The historical relevance of urine and the future implications

The relevance of urine examination has been reported since the ancient times. Urine was connected to religious traditions attracting the interest of the people as "the elixir of long life". Indeed, it seems that urine was not considered as a waste product but rather as a distilled product selected from the body. Many different sources (the Sanskrit book 'Shiwambu kalpa', Sumerian, Assyrian- Babylonian, Egyptians, Essenians, Jewish-Christians, Greek and roman philosophers) reported a number of evidences not only regarding uroscopy but also about the use of urine as therapy. Humans produce 10 billion liters of urine and in a lifetime a human can fill an Olympic swimming pool with the urine produced. Urine is used as electric generator, space fuel, storage battery, and fertilizer. The introduction of mass spectrometry in the study of urine could represent a goal for identify diagnostic biomarkers for kidney diseases.