Your Urine Colour Tell You About Your Health?

What Is Your Urine Colour? If everything is normal and healthy, the color should be a pale yellow to gold. That he comes from a pigment your body makes called urochrome. The shade, light or dark, also changes, Urine color is an important indicator of your overall health, body functions and especially that of the kidneys. Kidneys play a critical role in filtering out the wastes, toxins and excess water from the blood. Any change in the urine color is often amongst the few initial signs that the body shows in case of an internal disorder.

Ideally, the urine color of a healthy individual is clear, light yellow and transparent. However, several reasons could be responsible for altering the urine color. Here is what your urine color tells about your health:

Is Your Urine Dark Yellow In Colour? 

It is one of the most commonly observed color change and is considered as a sign of dehydration or decreased water intake. When you are not drinking enough water, the urine concentration increases and gives it a dark color.  Medical conditions such as jaundice is another common cause of dark yellow urine. Intake of vitamin B complex supplements can also give dark yellow color to urine.

Is Your Urine Red or pink In Colour?

Some foods like carrots, blackberries, beets, and rhubarb can turn your pee a pinkish-red color. This can also be a side effect of medications like the antibiotic rifampin or a drug for urinary tract infections (UTIs) called phenazopyridine. Passing red colored urine can cause a lot of anxiety. The colour, in most common cases, is due to the presence of blood in the urine which could be due to; kidney stones, urinary tract infection, cancer of bladder or kidney, enlarged prostate, menstrual blood or disorders related to blood (such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia) Intake of certain painkillers such as ibuprofen and rifampin also give rise to red urine. Also, commonly used drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, isoniazid, also at times and results in orange colored urine. More so, at times even food items such as beetroot, carrot, blackberries are known to give a red color to the urine.

Is Your Urine Purple In Colour?

Though very rare in nature, but the color of urine may turn purple due to an unusual phenomenon, known as the Purple Urine Bag Syndrome. It arises as a result of urinary tract infection due to a bacterial reaction with synthetic material of the catheter or a urine collection bag.

Is Your Urine White In Colour?

The presence of an excess of calcium, phosphates and other mineral deposits in the urine is the common cause for white colored urine. In other cases, severe urinary tract infection may also cause pus formation and result in white urine. Also, in cases of a parasite infection such as filariasis, urine becomes thick white which is known as chyluria.

Is Your Urine Green In Colour?

Common reasons for the color change could be urinary tract infection by Pseudomonas bacteria, drug poisoning due to ingestion of pesticides and presence of bile pigments in urine due to liver disorders. 

Another common reason could be the use of medicines that contain chemical phenol for example promethazine (anti-allergic), profol (used for anaesthesia), thymol (pharmaceutical stabiliser), metoclopramide (used for nausea and vomiting), amitriptyline (antidepressant) and indomethacin (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).