Facinating Facts

Urine

• The word ‘urine’ is from the Latin urina, which is from the variant of the Proto-Indo-European root awer, meaning ‘to moisten, flow.’

• The scientific name for urination is micturition. Urination is also called voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and emiction.

• Urine is 95% water, 2.5% urea, and 2.5% of other mixtures of minerals, salts, and enzymes.

• Urine is either dark or light yellow, depending on the amount of water in it. Urine can turn neon bright if a person consumes a lot of Vitamin B. Beets, rhubarb, and blackberries can turn it reddish brown.

• The kidneys form urine by removing waste materials, salts, and other substances from the blood and sending them out of the body. Kidneys produce urine continuously, regardless if a person is sleeping or awake.

• In many Muslim countries, both men and women sit or squat to pee. They think standing up to urinate is something dogs, not humans, do.

• The average child urinates six times a day.

• Urine was used by drug companies to make medicine — for example, urokinese, which helped dissolve the blood clots that caused heart attacks.

• Urine therapy, or drinking one’s own urine, is very popular in several countries.