Do Cow Urine, Wheatgrass and Home Remedies — Actually Treat Cancer?
These claims are widely shared in India, and the people who share them usually mean well. The evidence does not support them — and the risk worth understanding is what happens when they are used instead of treatment.
Medically reviewed by Dr. N. Kiranmayee, Medical Oncologist · Last reviewed September 2026
- No clinical evidence — WHO, ICMR and major oncology bodies have found no clinical trial evidence these remedies treat cancer.
- The real risk is delay — Every week a treatable cancer goes untreated, it continues to grow.
- Some supplements interact with drugs — Certain herbal preparations reduce how well cancer drugs work. Tell your team what you are taking.
- Tradition and evidence are separate questions — A practice can be ancient and still untested for a specific disease. Both can be true at once.
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There is no published clinical evidence from WHO, ICMR or any major oncology body that cow urine, wheatgrass or common home remedies treat cancer. The real risk is not in taking them alongside treatment — it is in using them instead of it, while the cancer continues to grow.
Claims you may have heard — and what the evidence actually shows
Cow urine (gomutra) cures cancer.
Gomutra has been studied in laboratory settings, but laboratory findings are not the same as clinical evidence. No human clinical trial registered with ICMR, WHO or any major oncology body has established gomutra as a cancer treatment. The concern is not with tradition — it is that delay while cancer grows can close treatment windows that were open.
Wheatgrass can replace chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
Wheatgrass contains chlorophyll and some nutrients. There is no published evidence from ASCO, ESMO or ICMR that it treats cancer or can substitute for oncology treatment. Including it in a balanced diet while continuing treatment is a different question — one to raise with your oncologist.
Natural means safe.
All substances — herbal, natural or pharmaceutical — are chemicals. Several herbal preparations interact with cancer drugs in ways that reduce their effectiveness or increase side effects. Tell your oncologist everything you are taking so they can tell you what is safe alongside your specific regimen.
Doctors don't recommend these remedies because they don't know about them.
Oncologists are familiar with these claims and with the research that exists on them. The reason they do not recommend gomutra or wheatgrass as treatments is not unfamiliarity — it is the absence of clinical trial evidence that these approaches work against cancer in people.
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Key terms worth understanding
- Complementary versus alternative
- Complementary practices are used alongside proven treatment — yoga, certain dietary approaches, or traditional practices your oncologist approves. Alternative practices are used instead of proven treatment. This distinction is the one that matters for safety. The word 'natural' does not determine which category something falls into.
- Clinical trial
- A study in which a treatment is tested on people, with a comparison group, under controlled conditions. Results are reviewed by independent scientists before a body like ICMR or CDSCO approves anything. Laboratory studies and animal studies are not clinical trials and do not establish that a treatment works in humans.
- Gomutra therapy
- Cow urine used as a therapeutic preparation in some Ayurvedic traditions. It has been studied in laboratory conditions for certain properties. No regulatory body — CDSCO, ICMR or WHO — has approved it as a treatment for any cancer.
- Evidence-based treatment
- A treatment with demonstrated benefit in human clinical trials, reviewed independently and approved by a regulatory body. This is the standard NCCN, ASCO and ESMO guidelines use. A treatment without this evidence has an unknown effect on cancer — not a proven one, in either direction.
What is the real risk?
The risk is not in wheatgrass or gomutra themselves. The risk is in using them instead of treatment that has evidence, because while you are trying something else, the cancer is not waiting.
If you are taking herbal supplements alongside your oncology treatment, tell your team what and how much. Some preparations affect the liver enzymes that process chemotherapy drugs, which can reduce the drug's effect or raise side effects. That conversation protects you.
If you or your family have concerns about treatment — cost, side effects, quality of life, faith — bring those to your oncologist directly. Those are real concerns with real solutions. Stopping treatment without discussion means those solutions are never offered.
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Frequently asked questions
Is there any research on gomutra and cancer?
Laboratory studies have looked at certain properties of cow urine, but laboratory findings do not establish a treatment for people. A substance behaving in a particular way in a cell culture does not mean it treats cancer in a person. No human clinical trial registered with ICMR, WHO or any equivalent body has demonstrated gomutra as an effective cancer treatment. The leap from 'studied in a lab' to 'treats cancer' is one the evidence does not currently support.
My relative recovered from cancer after using wheatgrass. Does that mean it works?
Recovery after using a remedy tells you that someone recovered — it does not tell you what caused the recovery. Many cancers respond to treatment, go into remission, or were less advanced than initially thought. Without a comparison group — people with identical cancers, some taking wheatgrass and some not — it is not possible to know what produced the outcome. Personal stories matter and are worth sharing with your oncologist, but they cannot replace clinical trial evidence when deciding what treatment to use.
Can I take wheatgrass or herbal supplements during chemotherapy?
Some supplements are fine alongside treatment and some are not — it depends on what you are taking and what your regimen includes. The only way to know is to ask your oncologist directly, naming exactly what you are taking and at what amount. Some herbal preparations affect liver enzymes that process chemotherapy drugs, which can reduce how much drug reaches the tumour or increase side effects. Do not assume something is safe because it is natural.
Why hasn't my oncologist mentioned these remedies?
Bring it up yourself — your oncologist will not dismiss you for asking. Naming what you are considering or already taking lets them tell you what is safe alongside your regimen, warn you about specific interactions, and understand your concerns. A worry about side effects or quality of life is worth raising directly. Your team cannot address a concern they do not know about.
If Ayurveda has existed for thousands of years, why isn't there evidence for these remedies against cancer?
Traditional systems — Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani — represent centuries of careful observation, and oncologists do not dismiss them wholesale. What oncology requires is that a remedy be tested in the specific disease, in people, with a comparison group. That process has not been completed for gomutra or wheatgrass as cancer treatments. Some compounds from traditional systems have been formally studied and shown real effects in specific conditions; others have not. The question is not tradition versus science — it is whether this specific remedy has been tested for this specific disease.
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