What’s the healthiest urine color?

Urine is liquid waste made by your kidneys as they filter toxins and potentially harmful waste from your blood. 

It is primarily made of water, chemicals (ammonia, creatinine, urea, uric acid), inorganic salts, pigments, and electrolytes (like potassium and phosphorous). 

Its color depends on a variety of factors, including illness, food, and medications. And it can give a picture of your overall health.

So what is the healthiest urine color?

Generally, the healthiest urine color is pale or light yellow to gold. The yellow color is due to the pigment urochrome, an end product of the breakdown of hemoglobin found in blood. Of course, the level of urochrome in the urine will make the urine appear either light yellow or dark yellow. 

When the urine is clear or has no color, it typically means you’re drinking excessive liquid or perhaps taking a drug known as a diuretic which stimulates your body to get rid of fluid. 

With clear urine indicating over-hydration and your body attempting to get rid of excess water, you only need to stop drinking too much and to drink only when next you feel thirsty for your urine to return to light yellow.

Dark yellow, honey-colored, or brown-colored urine indicates that you’re probably dehydrated and need to drink more fluid. Though it could also be a warning that you have a liver problem and need to see your doctor if it does not get better in a few days. 

Equally, dark yellow urine is common in the morning because you’ve perhaps taken too long without hydrating. When you have dark yellow urine, drink some water and limit dehydrating foods and drinks.

What urine colors are abnormal?

  1. Orange

Orange urine color may be a sign that you are dehydrated. But it can also be the result of high-doses of vitamins B12 and C, the urinary tract infection drug phenazopyridine, the antibiotic isoniazid, or a problem with your liver or bile duct. 

Speak with your doctor if your urine is constantly orange colored. Also, be aware of the medications and vitamins you’re taking.

  1. Blue or green 

A green or blue colored urine is often a side effect of certain vitamins, food dyes, the anesthetic propofol, the asthma medicine promethazine, or the medicine methylene blue. 

Only a few rare medical conditions turn urine green or blue in color so inform your doctor about a blue or green urine color that doesn’t go away.

  1. Red or pink

Unless you’re taking a drug like antibiotic rifampin or the UTI drug phenazopyridine or you’ve eaten beets, carrots, blackberries, or rhubarb recently, having pink or red urine indicates blood in urine. In fact, if the urine has a thick, blood-like consistency, then that is abnormal and requires urgent attention. 

Generally, anything red should be alarming and could be a sign of kidney stones, kidney disease, prostate problems, urinary tract infection, or a more serious problem like bladder cancer. Of course, for women, when menstruating, then menstrual blood can mix with urine.  But with red or pink urine, you should call your physician or urologist immediately to be examined. 

  1. Brown urine

When urine is brown, it might indicate fistula between the urinary tract and the rectum or bowels. It may also mean blood in urine, kidney disease, liver disease, or an infection. Speak with your doctor about brown urine color that doesn’t go away.

  1. Turbid or foamy urine

No matter the color of your urine, you should visit your doctor if it is foamy, frothy or cloudy. Turbid urine may be a sign that you have protein in your urine, which may mean a problem with your kidneys. Or it may indicate that you have an infection. 

Nevertheless, smelly or cloudy urine alone should not be interpreted to mean urinary tract infection, as only a visit to your doctor and a subsequent analysis can reveal that.

When should you seek medical help?

You should never be afraid to bring up questions with your doctor when you have abnormal urine color. If you believe the alarming urine color is due to a new supplement or medication, your doctor will change it or instruct you to stop taking it. Then, your doctor will encourage you to track your urine to see if or how its color changes.  Your doctor will also request for a sample of your urine for analysis, particularly if it is pink, brown, red, or smells strangely.

Make sure to inform your doctor about any new symptoms, especially if it lasts more than a day or comes with a fever, vomiting, back or side pain, discharge, or feeling very thirsty. For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of urinary issues, visit the site “St Pete Urology.”

Is blood in the urine serious?

Blood in the urine, medically referred to as hematuria, should always be taken seriously because any blood in urine can indicate an elevated risk of severe health problems even if it occurs once. 

For instance, it can indicate an infection, kidney disease, cancer or a rare blood disorder.  So if you see blood in your urine, no matter how minor, you should never ignore it and immediately see a urologist. 

What are the different types of hematuria?

Blood in the urine can occur in two ways. It can present itself as gross hematuria or as microscopic hematuria. Gross hematuria means that your urine has significant elevation of blood and its color appears red or pink. Or your urine has spots of visible blood.

Microscopic hematuria means the amount of blood in your urine is so small that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. So your urine is not red or pink in color but a lab test can detect the blood or blood cells in the urine can be detected when a sample of the urine is examined under a microscope.

What are the causes of hematuria?

  1. Urinary tract infection

A bacterial infection somewhere in your urinary tract, kidneys or bladder can cause hematuria. An infection occurs when bacteria enters your urethra and moves and multiplies in the bladder or kidneys. The infection may result in pain, frequent urination, and bleeding that can eventually lead to gross or microscopic hematuria.

  1. Stones

Stones are crystals that form from minerals and other substances in your urine, especially when they are at high concentration. The stones form in the bladder or kidney and may lead to pain and bleeding as the stones pass through the urinary tract. Larger stones typically block the urinary tract and cause significant pain and hematuria.

  1. An enlarged prostate

For men who are middle-aged and older, the prostate gland tends to get bigger, compress the urethra, make it difficult to urinate, and may result in urinary tract infection (UTI). When an enlarged prostate causes UTI, blood in urine is often one of the symptoms of the infection.

  1. Kidney disease

When a kidney is inflamed, infected or damaged, bleeding may occur, resulting in blood in urine. Kidney disease can occur on its own or as part of another disease, like diabetes.  

For instance, in children aged 6-10 years, the kidney disease known as post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, which tends to develop 1-2 weeks after untreated strep infection, usually causes hematuria. It is nowadays quite rare because antibiotics effectively treat strep infections.

  1. Cancer

Blood in urine can be due to bladder, prostate, or kidney cancer, typically as a symptom of advanced-stage tumor. Because blood in urine is rarely an early sign of cancer, you should see your doctor immediately to rule out the possibility of cancer.

  1. Medications and rare conditions

Hematuria can be caused by drugs like aspirin, penicillin, blood thinners (like heparin and warfarin), and cyclophosphamide (a drug used to treat certain cancers). Rare blood disorders like hemophilia, Alport syndrome, and sickle cell anemia also cause hematuria. 

Plus, you can have blood in your urine after strenuous exercise, a trauma to the kidneys, or if blood is coming from a different source, such as from bowel movement, the vagina in women, or the ejaculate in men.

When should you seek medical attention?

Blood in urine may be a sign of a grave underlying condition, so you should speak with your doctor as soon as possible. You must never ignore hematuria, even if only a small amount of blood occurs in the urine. 

Visit your doctor immediately if you see blood clots as you urinate or if you have hematuria along with nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, or pain in your abdomen, back or side. 

Also, speak with your doctor if you don’t see blood in urine but experience frequent pain, difficulty urinating, or have abdominal or kidney pain, as these could indicate microscopic hematuria.

During your visit, your doctor will ask you about when and the amount of blood you see during urination.  The physician will also want to know how frequently you urinate, any pain or blood clots in the urine, and any medications you’re taking. 

The doctor will then perform a physical exam, obtain a sample of your urine for analysis, and may order imaging tests, like CT scan or cystoscopy.

The treatment offered after the tests will depend on the underlying cause of the hematuria. For instance, if it is due to urinary tract infection, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics. 

For hematuria caused by an enlarged prostate, your doctor may prescribe 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, alpha blockers, or surgery.

Do you have blood in urine? 

For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of urological problems, visit the site “St Pete Urology.”

What color of pee is bad?

Do you ever pay attention to the color of your pee? If not, then starting today, you should.

The color of your pee can give you a hint of what is going on in your body—and whether you are well or unwell.

Urine is made in your kidneys as your blood is filtered. The kidneys make pee to help remove toxins and other harmful substances from your blood. So your pee is not just made of water and salt but also contains wastes such as uric acid and urea, and other substances found in your blood.

What is the color of pee?

The normal color of pee is yellow because of the yellow pigment, urochrome, made in your body.

When you are healthy and adequately hydrated, you should expect to produce light yellow and close-to-clear pee.

However, lots of things can change the color of your pee.

For instance, your urine will have no color if you’re drinking a lot of water or taking diuretics drugs that enhance fluid loss.

But when dehydrated, your pee becomes amber, dark yellow to light brown.

The color of your pee also changes with the type of foods, medications, or illness.

What color of pee is bad?

  1. Clear

Clear urine typically indicates you’re drinking too much fluid, and you need to cut back on your water intake. Although staying hydrated is a good thing, drinking too much water can rob your body of electrolytes.

Besides, consistently clear pee may indicate that you have a liver problem, like viral hepatitis or liver cirrhosis.

If your pee is clear for a while and you’re not consuming large amounts of water, then you should see your doctor.

  1. Dark brown

Dark brown pee color may be due to medications, such chloroquine (Aralen) and metronidazole (Flagyl), or extreme exercise that causes muscle injury.

It may also be due to eating large quantities of aloe, rhubarb, or fava beans.

Most often, brown pee indicates you should drink more water, showing that you are dehydrated.

In some cases, brown pee results from diseases. One of them is porphyria—a rare disorder that usually involves sensitivity to light and leads to brown urine because of the breakdown of red cells.

Pee can also be brown when you have a buildup of bile, liver disease, or a tumor.

You should see a urologist if your pee is brown and doesn’t get better after a day or so.

  1. Cloudy

Cloudy, foamy, or frothy pee is bad and requires immediate medical help.

When urine has bubbles or foam, you may be consuming too much protein in your diet, but a persistently cloudy pee indicates a more serious condition, such as kidney disease, diverticulitis, Crohn’s disease, or other chronic condition.

Make sure to let your doctor know about it as soon as possible.

  1. White

Pee that is cloudy white could mean you have kidney stones or a severe infection.

The white color is probably due to the presence of pus in your urine.

Make sure to see your urologist immediately for appropriate medication.

  1. Pink or red

Your pee may be pink or red due to foods like blackberries, beets, rhubarb, and carrots. But red or pink color of pee may also be caused by medications like the antibiotic rifampin or phenazopyridine for urinary tract infections (UTIs).

In the worst case, pink or red pee is due to blood in urine caused by urinary tract infections, an enlarged prostate, kidney disease, a tumor, kidney stones, or cysts.

If the color change occurs together with burning pain, odd smell, or any other unusual symptoms, then it certainly means you have an underlying health problem.

So if you have red pee and have recently not eaten the foods above, then you should visit your doctor immediately for help.

  1. Orange

Pee that has the color of citrus-flavored soft drink may be due to medications such as high-dose vitamin B12, the antibiotic isoniazid, or the UTI drug phenazopyridine. But it can also mean you’re dehydrated or you have a problem with your bile duct or liver.

If you have orange urine in addition to light-colored stools, then bile might be reaching your bloodstream due to problems in your bile ducts or liver.

It could be a result of adult-onset jaundice.

 Make sure to speak with your doctor about it.

  1. Blue

Blue urine is usually due to brightly colored food dyes and medications such as amitriptyline and indomethacin.

If you are not taking dyed food or these types of medications, the blue tinge may be due to bacterial infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa or the rare condition hypercalcemia—too much calcium in your bones.

Generally, blue pee is rare and is almost often related to diet.

  1. Green

Your pee may be green due to vegetables in your diet.

However, green pee is usually bad as it is associated with Proteus infection.

If your pee is green, you should see your doctor, establish the source, and prescribe a course of antibiotics to clear up the urinary tract infection.

When should you see your doctor?

Speak with your doctor every time you see a change in your urine color that you can’t link to a new medication or a recent meal, particularly if the color change lasts more than a day.

Don’t hesitate to inform your doctor about it as it could signify a serious health condition.

A change in color of your pee that comes with a fever, vomiting, side or back pain, feeling very thirsty, or discharge requires urgent attention. Your doctor will run tests on your urine to determine what is going on and provide proper treatment.