The rainbow of urine colors: What’s typical, what’s not
Regular urine color varies however normally ranges from clear to pale yellow. The precise hue relies on how a lot water you drink. Fluids dilute the yellow pigments in urine. So the extra you drink, the clearer your urine seems to be. When you drink much less, the yellow shade turns into stronger.
Some meals and medicines can change the colour of urine. For instance, meals like beets, blackberries and fava beans can flip urine pink or crimson. Some medicines additionally may give urine vivid tones, similar to orange or greenish-blue.
An uncommon urine shade additionally generally is a signal of a health drawback, nonetheless. For occasion, some urinary tract infections can flip urine milky white. Kidney stones, some cancers and different ailments generally make urine look crimson as a consequence of blood.
Here are some uncommon urine colours, together with issues that may trigger them.
Red or pink urine
Red urine is not all the time an indication of a severe health drawback. Red or pink urine may be attributable to:
- Blood
Health issues that may trigger blood within the urine embody an enlarged prostate, tumors that are not most cancers, and kidney stones and cysts. Vigorous exercise can also trigger blood within the urine. Blood within the urine is frequent in urinary tract infections and with kidney stones. Those issues typically trigger ache. Painless bleeding may be an indication of a extra major problem, similar to most cancers. - Foods
Beets, blackberries and rhubarb can flip urine crimson or pink. - Medicines
Red or pink urine is feasible if you happen to take medicines for tuberculosis, urinary tract ache or constipation.
Orange urine
Orange urine may be attributable to:
- Medicines
Constipation medicines can flip urine orange, as can drugs that lessens swelling and irritation, and a few chemotherapy medicines for most cancers. - Vitamins
Some nutritional vitamins, similar to A and B-12, can flip urine orange or yellow-orange. - Health issues
Orange urine generally is a signal of an issue with the liver or bile duct, primarily if you happen to even have light-colored stools. Dehydration can also make your urine look orange.
Blue or inexperienced urine
Blue or inexperienced urine may be attributable to:
- Dyes
Some brightly coloured food dyes could cause inexperienced urine. Dyes used for some kidney and bladder exams can flip urine blue. - Medicines
Some medicines for depression, ulcers and acid reflux disease can flip urine greenish-blue. Medications for ache, arthritis and sleep can also flip urine inexperienced. - Health issues
A uncommon illness known as familial benign hypercalcemia could cause youngsters to have blue urine. Urinary tract infections attributable to a sure micro organism could cause inexperienced urine.
Dark brown or cola-colored urine
Brown urine may be attributable to:
- Foods
Eating tons of fava beans, rhubarb or aloe could cause darkish brown urine. - Medicines
Some medicines can darken urine, together with these used to deal with and forestall malaria, constipation, high ldl cholesterol and seizures. Some antibiotics and muscle relaxers can also darken urine. - Health issues
Some liver and kidney issues and urinary tract infections can flip urine darkish brown. So can bleeding contained in the body, known as a hemorrhage. A gaggle of diseases primarily affecting the pores and skin or the nervous system, known as porphyria, can also trigger brown urine. - Extreme exercise
A muscle harm from excessive training could cause tea- or cola-colored urine. The harm can result in kidney injury.
Cloudy or murky urine
Urinary tract infections and kidney stones could cause urine to look cloudy or murky.
Keep in thoughts that colours can look barely completely different to completely different folks. For occasion, what seems to be crimson to you may look orange to another person. Talk together with your healthcare crew you probably have considerations and particularly you probably have painful urination or darkish orange urine, which generally is a signal that your liver is not working accurately.
Ashley Pountney is a doctor assistant in Urology in Austin and Albert Lea, Minnesota.
This article first revealed on the Mayo Clinic Health System blog.