What Your Urine Color Says About Your Health

Even though it is more of a taboo topic and no one talks about it, urine color is actually an excellent health indicator. Here’s why.

As a rule of thumb, the color of a healthy person’s urine is usually light yellow, just like the color of lemonade.

The darker your urine color is, the unhealthier you are. Often times this means you’re just dehydrated, but it might also mean you suffer from serious health issues.

On the other end of the spectrum, if your urine is clear it means you drank too much water.

Now that we have a general idea of what urine color says about our health, let’s dive into details.

Each Urine Color Explained

As a note, before we list each urine color and its meaning, keep in mind that the urinary system is sensitive to even slight changes in your body.

What you eat, how much water you drink, and the medications you take can impact the color of your urine.

While in some cases the color of your urine might indicate a health issue, sometimes it’s just a “reflection” of the color of what you ate.

So let’s see what that strange color in the toilet bowl actually means:

1. Clear Color: Overhydration

Clear urine means you drank too much water. So it’ll be wise to reduce your water intake.

2. Pale Yellow: Perfectly Healthy

The perfect color for your urine is pale yellow (lemonade-like color).

3. Gold: Dehydration

If your urine color is yellow or gold, then you might be slightly dehydrated. Just get more water; there’s nothing to worry about.

4. Orange: It’s The Medication

Most of the time, this urine color is due to the medications you take.

So if you see orange in your toilet bowl, talk to your doctor about your medication.

5. Brown: Liver Dysfunction

If your urine color is brown, dark yellow, or maple syrup-like, then you should get a bit concerned.

Brown urine can be a sign of severe dehydration or it can even mean you’re suffering from liver dysfunction.

So if you’re a conscious person who drinks lots of water during the day but your urine is still brown, go see your doctor immediately.

6. Shades Of Red: UTI

Red or pink urine can be caused by the artificial dyes in food, medication, or even dark red foods such as beets, rhubarb, or blackberries.

So if you’ve been eating red foods recently, you’re OK. If this is not the case, then you might want to call your doctor.

Medication can also influence the color of urine; so in this case, again, you have nothing to worry about.

But if medication and red food did not cause this, then it might be something more serious such as:

• Bladder infection;
• Kidney infection;
• Urinary tract infection (UTI).

7. Black: Melanoma

Blackish urine shouldn’t be a warning sign if you recently ate aloe, rhubarb, berries, or fava beans.

If the food had nothing to do with the color of your urine, then it might be something serious. Go see your doctor immediately!

Copper or phenol poisoning might be the culprit for black urine. Studies show that melanoma is also associated with dark urine color.

8. White, Milky, Cloudy: Chyluria

White, cloudy, or milky urine is never a good sign. Talk with your doctor immediately.

It might be linked to UTI if it is accompanied by a bad smell.

An overabundance of minerals such as phosphate and calcium can also make your urine cloudy. Too much protein can also lead to milky urine.

In rare cases, cloudy urine can be caused by Chyluria, a disease that secrets chyle into urine after consuming lots of fatty foods.

9. Foamy, Frothy, Bubbly: Kidney Failure

If your urine is bubbly once in a while, you’re fine; there’s nothing to worry about. But if it is on a regular basis, you should see your doctor.

Foamy urine is usually caused by a high concentration of protein in your urine. That’s not good because the protein should remain in your body to be used as fuel for your muscles and organs.

Now, frothy urine might be a sign of kidney failure because kidneys are responsible for filtering the protein and keeping it in the body.

10. Unusual Colors:

Blue, purple, or green urine can be a thing. And it is usually caused by the meds and food you ate, similar to the red urine.

A bacterial infection or a rare genetic disorder called benign hypercalcemia can also lead to unusual urine color.

So since it’s hard to figure out the underlying cause of your urine color, it’s best to consult with your doctor.

The Takeaway

Your urine color says a lot about your health. You can recognize if you’re dehydrated or have a kidney complication just by taking a glance at the toilet bowl.

Remember that clear, yellow, and orange urine is normal and can indicate if you’re on the right path with your water intake.

On the other hand, darker or unusual urine colors are signs of concern. So in this case, talk to your doctor.