I can't believe anyone suggested it

If urine is healthy, why does your body excrete it?
Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion.

Easy.they couldn't do that in 1965.8-)

They didn't eat the camel for the same reason they didn't drink their urine: there was no need. Heinrich had already calculated that they had just enough pressed dates and distilled antifreeze/water to finish the Phoenix project and get her airborne. If the plane didn't fly, then they were not going to need any more food or waterbecause they were all going to be dead anyway. Pretty smart fellow, that Heinrich.

I thought the same thing. One scene has the British sergeant peeing into the sand when he sees that Cobb has taken off. I thought what a waste, that urine could possibly be distilled.
Also, after Townes shoots the camel I wondered why they didn't cut it up for some camel steaks. A little protein may have given them some needed strength for the final feat when they knew they had to pull the finished plane.

That the movie doesn't show it explicitly, doesn't mean they didn't do it.
And to those who claim it to be unhealthy, dehydration kills much faster.
I did not save the boy, God did. I only CARRIED him.

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Hi all I'm the "idiot" who said the it's healthy. See this link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/urine-the-bodys-own-health-drink-467303.html
For who would bear the whips and scorns of Hollywood (;-p)

What I expect he did was to equate healthy with sterile. (not bacteriologically harmful)

Yes they could have purified the urine but to the idiot who said drinking urine is "healthy" I suggest you do some more research before you make such a claim

Since they had a still, they could have saved ALL their urine, and put it in there, distilling to pure water.
Straight urine has far too much salt and other solutes to be drunk on an extended basis.

Even if I haven't drunk anything for a while I still have to urinate sometimes. I imagine if they did this the waste content in proportion to the water content would compound exponentially to the point of making this action rather harmful.

You first.

Drinking your own urine is not healthy. Far from it. A small drink now and again won't do much one way or another, but if you drank your own urine constantly in large amounts, and didn't drink much in the way of clean water, it would kill you.