# Urine--Good to the last drop!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [July 7, 2001, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567 "2001-07-07T05:13:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/23 "2001-08-09T01:14:30Z")
Obviously someone just like you. :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/24 "2001-08-09T02:16:50Z")
Hi **M Peterson**! Welcome to this hive of intelligence and silliness.
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by M. Peterson \*
> My anecdotal evidence indicates that, while not pervasive, the practice in question is well known in the gay community, particularly among transvestites.
As a fee-paying member of the gay community (joke, Joyce) I can attest that it’s true that in my circles most folk would know about or joke about watersports, many have tried it out (we’re earnest pioneers in the realms of sex, us gay boys) but very few have an interest in continuing activity of this sort.
Those who like it **really** like it. I’m certain it is partly to do with breaking taboos - the more shame, the more delight in embracing the shame.
It is an activity that involves planning and clean-up in order to avoid mess and odour, of course, and the conflict between that and the spontaneity that both sex and micturation involve is a tricky one to master. It is not especially harmful healthwise, or disgusting to the participants.
I can declare with confidence that there’s no significant connection with transvestitism. You just may have been lucky with the transvestites you’ve met. (Also a joke)
> [@](#):
>
> However, in my long years on this planet I have never met or heard of a heterosexual male who enjoys consuming the urine of females… Nor have I heard of a woman (heterosexual or lesbian) who feels compelled to quench her thirst by drinking urine… \*\*
From the shelves of my local adult bookstore, this is quite an interest for some straight men. There are certainly many books dedicated to photo stories of naughty water sports ladies and men. Although, I suspect, without evidence, that there are fewer women who enjoy it than men.
Redboss
---
### Author:  [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/25 "2001-08-09T05:39:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bughunter \*\*\*
> Now my question is _who_ was in the habit of drinking or tasting urine to associate the sweetness with the other symptoms of the disease, and thus arrive at the disease’s formal name? \*\*
Doctors did it to arrive at a diagnosis.
---
### Author:  [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/26 "2001-08-09T06:51:45Z")
OK, perhaps I could have phrased my intended question more clearly:
Who was _the first_ to have associated the sweetness of urine with this endocrine disorder, and why were they tasting urine in the first place?
---
### Author:  [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/27 "2001-08-09T21:16:00Z")
I thought piss taster was actually a profession for a while, their speciality being to diagnose problems just as bughunter is describing.
---
### Author:  [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2001, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/28 "2001-08-09T23:07:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bughunter \*
> \*\*OK, perhaps I could have phrased my intended question more clearly:
>
> Who was _the first_ to have associated the sweetness of urine with this endocrine disorder, and why were they tasting urine in the first place? \*\*
[This](http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/texts/guide/hmg21_0002.html) page says
> [@](#):
>
> GENERAL DIAGNOSIS OF DIABETES
> Diabetes is an ancient disease, documented as far back as 1500 B.C. in Egypt. Greek physicians gave the disease its name based on its symptoms: diabetes means “siphon” or “fountain,” referring to the copious urination characteristic of the disease in its early, untreated state. These early doctors also observed that diabetic urine had a sweet odor and taste; therefore the term mellitus, which comes from the Latin word for “honey.” As glucose builds up in the blood, some of it spills over into the urine and is excreted. The earliest tests for diabetes involved smelling and even tasting the urine for sweetness; even today, cases of unsuspected diabetes may be first discovered by finding sugar in a routine urine test.
Oh, and the free part of [Britannica](http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108912&tocid=24607) also talks about the ancient Greeks determining the diagnosis and prognosis of sickness from “observation, including bodily signs and excretions.” It sounds like it was 5th century BC Greeks who were the first to associate sweet urine with the symptoms of diabetes. It’s not that big a logical leap to taste the urine–people with untreated diabetes mellitus pee a lot, so it makes sense to test out that pee with whatever methods you have available.
Particularly if it smells yummy.
Great, now I’m thirsty.
---
### Author:  [@Ravi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravi)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2001, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/29 "2001-08-12T02:49:13Z")
Hey!!! Drinking your own urine? No big deal, any dweeb can do that. Now, drinking someone elses urine… THAT proves your a MAN
rande…
---
### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567/30 "2001-08-12T04:27:34Z")
Tibetan doctors have long used a patient’s urine as a diagnostic method, and since their science predates modern machines, the physician is the primary instrument. The body of knowledge they’ve accumulated in the past millenium about differential diagnosis by this means is quite complex; very astute and rational. A physician examines the early morning urine for color, vapor, odor, bubbles, sediments and albumin. Early morning urine is used to avoid the overt effects of the night-before meal, which might hinder an accurate diagnosis. The doctor will ask the patient to forgo certain substances the night before diagnosis as well.
A bit of the complexity can be found [here](http://www.hps-online.com/hurinetibetean.htm). I’ve seen the Tibetan teaching charts, and they’re so specifically specific that most Western med students would probably flee from the profession. In lieu of modern diagnostics, though, this method makes quite good sense.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-good-to-the-last-drop/71567.md?page=1)