What The Color of Your Urine Says About Your Health

Urine has been a useful diagnostic tool since the beginning of medicine. The color of your urine can reveal useful information about your health. It can also tell if you are properly hydrated, taking medication or vitamins, or have an infection.


What Color Is the Right Color for Urine?

If you don’t see any color, you might be drinking too much water or coffee. Deeper shades of yellow and amber can indicate that you are dehydrated. The color of urine can range from completely clear to gold, and can include unusual colors like red and blue.

Here are some clues about what different urine colors may indicate:
  • Blue-green urine may be the result of certain medications such as laxatives, chemotherapy drugs, or vitamins. If you aren’t taking any of these meds, and you continue to see this color for more than a few days, call your doctor to discuss.
  • Bright yellow or orange urine can indicate you’ve consumed a lot of vitamin C, carrots, beets, or other foods in the orange family. Some medications can turn your urine this color as well.
  • Dark orange or brown urine is cause for concern. This may mean you have bile in your urine or a problem with your liver.
  • Pink or red urine can simply indicate you’ve eaten red-tinted food. On a more serious note, this can also be a sign of blood in your urine. Bloody urine may indicate internal injury, kidney issues, or cancer.

Cloudy urine has been found to suggest the presence of phosphates, which can be a precursor to kidney stones. Cloudiness can also indicate an infection. If cloudiness worsens and you experience burning or urgency, make sure to see a doctor.

Image Credit: Everyday health

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Here Are 5 Warning Signs Of Heart Failure

Image
Heart Failure occurs when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen. Some of the more important causes of heart failure include hypertension, ischaemic heart disease (especially in the western world), valvular heart disease as well as congenital heart diseases, particularly in children.
Read more

Did You Know? Drinking Too Much Water Can Kill You

Image
This might look strange, but it's true. Drinking enough water is essential for the human body to function, but drinking too much can be just as dangerous as drinking too little. Huge amounts of water upset the normal balance of electrolytes such as sodium in the body. For the body to function properly, concentrations of these electrolytes are held within narrow limits. If we drink a little more water than normal, our body effectively gets rid of the excess for example, in urine. However, if water enters our bodies more quickly than it can be removed, the electrolytes in our blood become diluted. When this happens, water passes from the blood into the cells and organs such as the brain, causing them to swell, which affects their normal function. Early symptoms of water intoxication include light-headedness sometimes with nausea, vomiting, headaches and a general feeling of being unwell – in fact, very similar symptoms to those associated with dehydration! Unfortunately, if lef...
Read more