….which is 5-10 times more than are found in saliva. Such is the result of an intensive 7 year study of human urine. Gizmodo takes up the story:
A team of 20 researchers from the University of Alberta proudly announced a commendable achievement on Thursday. Using no fewer than five different experimental methods, they’ve discovered over 3000 different chemical compounds in human urine. And it only took them seven years.
Urine analysis sounds pretty gross at first. When you really think about it, though, a better understanding of what’s in our pee could bears some pretty exciting implications in science and medicine. Consider that the standard urine tests typically check just six or seven compounds, even though urine contains traces of everything from the food you eat to the drugs you take to random bacteria floating around your body. This new comprehension of the yellow liquid could not only help researchers better understand how our bodies process waste but also enable doctors to diagnose illnesses in a quicker, less invasive manner. (Nobody likes needles.)
From a big picture point of view, the findings reveal some interesting details about how the human body works. For instance, nearly 2300 of the compounds found in the urine come from outside the human body in the form of food, drink, drugs and even cosmetics. The researchers also concluded that urine is one of the more complex fluids in the human body with five to 10 times more compounds than are found in saliva.
