Ethnopharmacological survey of the therapeutic use of camel urine in the Guelmim-Oued Noun and Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra regions of Morocco

Abstract

The therapeutic use of camel urine (CU) has shown an increasing trend in recent decades for treating diverse ailments and infections. An ethnopharmacological survey was conducted to collect and document the ethnomedicinal knowledge of local people in the Saharan region of Morocco, including the Laayoune Sakia El Hamra and Guelmim Oued Noun regions, regarding the traditional use of CU for treatment. Semi-structured interviews with 384 traditional practitioners, camel herders, and rural and urban dwellers were conducted from December 2022 to June 2023. The collected data covered diseases treated, CU quality attributes, modes of preparation, dosage, administration, treatment duration, and mild side effects. Quantitative data analysis was performed through the relative frequency of citations, informant consensus factor, informant agreement ratio, cultural importance index, and fidelity level. The results showed that CU was collected from virgin female camels (46.7 %) and pregnant camels (51.6 %) at different age stages (39.7 %) in both wet and dry seasons (57.5 %). For the treatment of the most common ailments (cancer, liver diseases, gastric ulcers, diabetes, and tuberculosis), accounting for 69 %, the recommended regimen involved orally consuming one teacup (69 %) of fresh urine (70.6 %) on an empty stomach (91.1 %) once a day (87.1 %) four days a week (56 %). In the case of integumentary system problems, applying one (13.2 %) to three teaspoons (17.8 %) topically (10.3 %) was also effective. Secondary effects occurred in 48 cases (13.8 %), including diarrhea (13 cases), nausea (11 cases), headache (7 cases), constipation (7 cases), and dry mouth (8 cases). The duration of these effects ranged from 2 to 3 h. The present survey indicates that CU is still used in traditional medicine by local inhabitants of the southern regions of Morocco to cure various human illnesses. The outlined findings strongly suggest the usefulness of CU as a valuable source of bioactive molecules for pharmaceutical, dermo-cosmeceutical applications, and developing innovative food supplements that promote significant job creation and entrepreneurial prospects.