What Does Urine Color Say About Your Health?

Paying attention before you flush is essential, as your urine color can tell a lot about your health. Do not ignore red, pink, or brown-colored urine as it might be resulting from something you ate or an underlying medical condition. Consulting expert urologists at the Century Medical and Dental Center can help you know more about what your urine color is saying about your health and how you can avoid factors that pose a risk to your wellbeing. The experienced doctor will figure out what you are going through and recommend further testing or treatment as needed to help you stay fit.

Urine is the liquid waste of the body, made up of water, salts, and chemicals like urea and uric acid. The color of urine depends on how diluted the urochrome pigment is. This pigment is made when it breaks down hemoglobin. Each color of urine can mean multiple things, so it is necessary to check with your doctor if you feel something amiss.

Understanding Urine Color

Urinalysis is an effective tool of diagnosis and helps to make out what is going inside your body, from how hydrated you are to whether you are suffering from a urinary tract infection or kidney disease.

Color is not the only important factor. Consistency and frequency of urination also have a lot to say about your kidney and overall health. With a urine test, the doctor will learn more about your body functioning and determine your health condition better.

Each person’s liquid waste will look slightly different from someone else’s. Knowing what affects urine color or smell and what each color signifies can help you keep an eye on your discharge and take appropriate action timely.

Colorless or Transparent Urine

Clear or transparent urine means you are consuming a lot of water. Not many people end up with this color of urine as most of us are unable to drink a sufficient amount of water given our busy schedules and frequent need to use the loo.

Cloudy or foamy urine
Changes in the consistency of the liquid can be a sign of urinary tract infection, particularly if it is cloudy or foamy. It means that you are losing more than the necessary quantity of certain minerals, and it may be a sign of some chronic disease and even a kidney condition.

If the discharge is cloudy with foam or bubbles, it could be a symptom of Chron’s disease or diverticulitis. In some cases, cloudy or foamy urine also indicates dehydration. Some people who eat a lot of red meat or are on a ketogenic diet, which includes high-fat content, also end up with cloudy or foamy urine.

Pale yellow or gold urine
Pale yellow or gold-colored urine is a sign of good health. It indicates everything is normal. Paying attention to your urine color is necessary as it can tell you a lot about your health condition.

Amber urine
Yellowish-brown or yellow-orange colored urine is harmless. It indicates that you are taking in more vitamins than your body needs. If your urine color remains amber for long, it is best to check with your doctor on what vitamins your body does not need so that you can cut back on them to prevent any long-term complications.

Bright yellow urine
Bright yellow urine or neon liquid results from taking in a handful of vitamins and supplements in the morning. Bright yellow urine is harmless, and it is just a sign that your body is flushing out the excessive vitamins that it does not need. Consult your doctor about the vitamin supplements you are taking to know how much you should be taking them.

Brown urine
Brown-colored urine is a sign of severe dehydration, or it could point to a liver condition. If you have melanoma skin cancer, your body may be adding skin pigment in circulation that is winding up in liquid waste.

Sometimes brown urine is also mistaken for very dark red, which can occur by the presence of blood. Brown color can result from consuming fava beans, aloe, or rhubarb in high quantities. Medications that turn the urine color to brown include, metronidazole, and chloroquine which are suggested for treating infection and malaria respectively.

Red and pink urine
Red or pink urine can range in a variety of colors. It could be either due to the presence of blood or hematuria in the urine, or it could be a sign of some kidney problem, urinary tract infection, tumor or prostate problem, or even lead and mercury poisoning. In some cases, eating blueberries, beets or rhubarb can result in pink or red-colored urine. Strenuous activities may also lead to pinkish color urine.

Orange urine
Orange color-tinged urine means you are dehydrated and need to drink water. It may also mean you suffer from a liver or bile duct condition. Sometimes eating large amounts of carrots, drinking lots of carrot juice, or something with food dye can also result in a discharge that seems to be orange in color.

The use of certain medications can also turn the urine orange. They include:

• Phenazopyridine;
• Sulfasalazine;
• Isoniazid;
• Riboflavin;
• Laxatives;
• Chemotherapy drugs for treating urinary conditions, tuberculosis, inflammation, and cancers.

Blue and green urine
Blue or green-colored urine is not common, and it could be a sign of some rare genetic disorder or bacteria causing a urinary tract infection. In most cases, blue or green colored discharge is caused by medications or the presence of food dye in something you ate.

Medications that can turn urine blue are the pain reliever indomethacin, the antidepressant amitriptyline, the stomach acid drug cimetidine, and the anesthetic propofol. Asparagus is believed to turn the discharge green, but it is more known for adding a smell.

Purple
Your purple-colored urine could be resulting from a syndrome known as the purple urine bag syndrome. It occurs in rare cases when using a urinary catheter where the patient also has a co-existing urinary tract infection.

When to Seek Medical Help for Changed Urine Color

Changes to urine color are often harmless and temporary when they result from eating certain foods or taking specific medications and vitamin supplements. However, it can be a sign of some underlying medical condition that needs proper diagnosis and professional treatment.

Blood in the urine is a common sign of UTI, kidney stones, or urinary tract cancer. Brown or orange urine can result from malfunctioning of the liver, especially when it is accompanied by pale stools and yellow eyes and skin.

If your notice your urine has turned brown, orange or you spot traces of blood, you must consult a primary care doctor to learn more about its possible causes. It becomes even more essential if the color change lasts more than a day or comes back with side pain, fever, burning with urinating, vomiting, discharge, or thirst.

Urine Odors

Along with keeping an eye on your urine color, you must also pay attention to its odor when you visit the loo. Changes in the smell are caused by a range of underlying conditions, but they may also be a result of what you ate last.

If the diet is the reason behind smelly urine, try to eliminate the culprit. If you cannot figure out the reason behind the foul smell in your discharge, consult a doctor to learn about the possible causes.

Urine can provide a lot of information about your renal and overall health with its color and smell. An experienced and board-certified specialist doctor can tell a lot about your health by analyzing your urine and helping you understand what your urine color, chemical compounds, and properties indicate. The top-rated urologists at the Century Medical and Dental Center will address the disease or injury to your urinary tract or kidneys and make sure you do not end up with any complications that affect your quality of life and health.