For those of you who are acquainted with me on a personal level will know that I love 'the ships of the desert'. At least once a month I go out with my Saudi friends to the desert to ride camels. Saudis in general love their camels too and they take much pride in looking after their camel herds.In Saudi Arabia camels are utilized for their meat, milk, wool and of course for camel racing. Many Saudi families also have camels as pets.In rural Africa, in areas like Mali and Djibouti,camels are still utilized to transport blocks of salt from the desert.
According to the Huffington Post, camel milk is the closest you can get to a human mother's milk, with ten times more iron and three times more vitamin C than cow's milk. I was quite surprised when I seen camel milk for the first time. It is very thick and frothy and from a distance it looks like thick fresh cream. Camel milk has numerous medicinal properties and health benefits.Low fat camel milk not only contains healthy vitamins and minerals but is also a rich source of insulin. The milk reportedly has a quart of insulin in each liter, making it a potential treatment option for diabetics.There are also claims that the milk can be used to treat crohn's disease, autism, improve male virility and also treat a variety of allergies.Camel yoghurt is also manufactured from the milk and camel milk chocolates are also produced by a company called Al Nassma. From a beauty perspective, camel milk is believed to treat a variety of skin conditions thereby improving skin tone and reducing wrinkles. I have a patient of mine who is in her mid forties. I always compliment her on her flawless skin tone. Her secret believe it or not is a few drops of camel milk and camel urine mixed with a little bit of aqueous cream. She told me that this mixture keeps her skin germ free and also gives her a lighter skin complexion. I guess this recipe will be able to rival 'fair and lovely'. She has asked me repeatedly to try this concoction for a few skin blemishes I developed after my skin burnt from incorrect dermatological products that were prescribed to me years ago. May be I should give it a try but I am not so sure if I really want camel milk and urine paste smeared on my face.Recently there has been much hype created about camel urine. In a 2009 article published in the Saudi gazette, it was mentioned that Saudi doctor, Faten Abdel-Rahman Khorshid has discovered that nano particles in the camel urine can attack cancer cells with tremendous success.Speaking to the Saudi Gazette, Dr. Khorshid claimed that she was inspired by Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) medical advice and that camel urine consists of natural substances that work to eradicate malignant cells and maintain the number of healthy cells in a cancer patient.“This treatment is not an invention, but rather, taken from our Prophet’s legacy,” she remarked. A Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari (2855) and Muslim (1671) claims that some people came to Madina and fell ill with bloated abdomens. The Prophet (pbuh) told them to combine the milk and urine of a camel and drink that, after which they recovered. A swollen abdomen may indicate edema, liver disease or cancer."
During the reign of Cleopatra, Egyptian and Arab women dipped their hair into camel urine to produce sleek and shiny hair. This practice is still carried out in today's times amongst Bedouin women with the belief that camel urine is efficacious against dandruff and other diseases of the scalp. It is also claimed that camel urine promotes hair growth thereby producing thicker, longer, stronger, and a more lighter lustrous looking crop of hair.Camel urine is also said to be an excellent potassium sparing diuretic. Whilst watching a documentary on travel channel a few days ago, I was quite amazed at the fact that the Samburu people of Kenya who are closely related to the Masaai people, drink cow and camel blood to survive. Meat is only eaten on very rare occasions.
It is only in recent times that many studies have been conducted on camel milk and camel urine. It is in general a very new field of study that many Saudi scientists have now undertaken to pursue.Already in India, Russia and Kazakhstan, patients are prescribed camel milk to treat a variety of diseases like, Diabetes, Crohn's disease and tuberculosis. With only minimal studies carried out thus far the possibilities are of course endless. By simply marveling at the sheer beauty of these animals and pondering over the variety of ways in which these animals are a benefit to mankind, I can not help but realize that this is the reason perhaps why God Almighty specifically mentions these creatures in the holy Quraan."Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made? And at the Sky, how it is raised high? And at the Mountains, how they are fixed firm? And at the Earth, how it is spread out? Therefore do you give admonition, for you are one to admonish." Quran-Al-Kareem: Surat al-Ghashiya ~ 17-21
Source:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009071143333
http://www.livestrong.com/article/409153-health-benefits-of-drinking-camel-milk/
http://goafrica.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1%2FXJ&zTi=1&sdn=goafrica&cdn=travel&tm=4833&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_p531.60.342.ip_&tt=29&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.al-nasma.com%2F
http://cougarclause.com/2012/02/strange-beauty/
http://hadhramouts.blogspot.com/2010/07/of-camel-urine-and-milk.html
