Unless you are stuck in your car for 3 hours on a Motorway and have the urge to urinate, you probably don’t think much about urine. But just paying attention to change in your urine color can help you learn about diet and your health. Isn’t that cool?
Let’s look at different colors urine might appear in and when it’s time to talk to the doctor about it.
Before we talk about urine colors, let’s pause for just a second. If you or a loved one is struggling with frequent urination, or tingling sensation after urine passing or there is blood in your/their urine, then you’ll find great help in talking directly to a urologist.
Table of Content
Different Colors Of Urine And What They Indicate?
Clear or Transparent
Clear or transparent urine indicates you are drinking more water than the body needs. While staying hydrated is awesome, but overhydration can cause loss of electrolytes (salts, etc.) If done consistently.
If your urine looks transparent sometimes, then it’s fine. Otherwise, if your urine is always transparent, then you are over-hydrated all the time. Cut back a little on the water you are drinking.
Only people who had kidney stones should aim to keep their urine color close to clear, for others, slight yellow is okay.
Yellowish to Amber
If your urine color falls on the spectrum of light yellow to deeper amber, then you are healthy.
Yellow color in urine appears due to the presence of urochrome pigment in urine. If you drink more water, this pigment in urine gets diluted and hence urine appears less and less yellow depending on how much water you drank.
Pale yellow
The urine of pale yellow color is normal, usually, it means you’re hydrated. Even if the urine color is slightly off the pale yellow, it means you just need to drink a little more water.
On the other hand, the more dehydrated you’re, the more your urine will be a darker shade of yellow in appearance. In that case, you should drink more water to keep your body hydrated especially if you’re at risk of developing kidney stones or already have them.
Bright yellow
If your urine color is bright yellow, it means you’re taking high-dose of vitamins in some form. Usually, the vitamin that causes it is B2 which is found in most multivitamins.
Although bright yellow (neon) is harmless, it means you might be taking more than what your body needs, and the extra vitamins are being released via your urine.
Red or Pink
If your urine color appears red or pink, see if you have eaten a fruit that naturally has deep pink or magenta colors such as beets, blueberries.
But if you haven’t eaten any fruit with such colors, then the color might be due to the presence of blood. In that case, it means you have a health condition such as enlarged prostate, kidney stones, or tumor in the bladder or kidney. You should immediately see an urologist.
Orange
It’s probably a safe side effect of a medication you’re taking, carrots also cause urine to turn color. It can also be a sign of dehydration and jaundice in adults. If the color persists, then you should probably talk to your doctor.
Blue or green
If your urine color appears blue or green, it’s probably related to something you ate and it’s fine. Bacterial infection can also cause urine color to turn blue, green, even indigo purple sometimes.
This could also be a sign of familial hypercalcemia, which is a genetic disease. It can also be caused by vitamin intake or intake of medication.
Usually, the color blue is rare and probably related to something you ate, however, if it persists, you should talk to the doctor.
Dark brown
Usually, the appearance of dark brown color means dehydration, but it can also be a side effect of some medications. It can also mean a liver disease or a blood condition.
Sometimes, red of red urine is dark, hence it might look brown or even black sometimes. The causes would this stay the same as for red urine.
Foamy or Cloudy
Cloudy urine might be a sign of infection in your urinary tract, chronic disease, or kidney condition. It can also mean dehydration.
Urine might get foamy if you have consumed a high-protein diet (usually meat). This can also appear in people with kidney stones, in some cases, it can also mean an infection.
Purple
If your urine appears purple, you might have had porphyria – a condition indicating your body is deficient in enzymes needed to produce red blood cells, you should immediately consult your doctor.
In most cases, unusual urine colors are simply caused by dehydration, a food consumed, or a medication you consumed. If an unusual color appears, it should turn normal in 2-3 days. If the color of your urine stays brown, blue, or green, it’s time to get worried and consult a urologist ASAP.
Book an appointment now, to answer all your queries. You can book an appointment with top nutritionists in Pakistan through Marham by calling at Marham helpline: 0311-1222398 or by online appointment booking facility through the website or Marham mobile app.
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