On average, we excrete one to one and a half liters of urine a day through our kidneys. However, we often pay too little attention to it, even though its appearance, color and smell give us indications of possible diseases. Read here what dark urine can indicate and what color gradations there are.
Table of Contents
This is what urine is made of
The kidneys have the task of filtering pollutants and waste products from the blood. These substances are excreted in the urine, which consists of 95 percent water. The remaining five percent is urea, salts, hormones and dyes. The yellow color comes from the bile pigment bilirubin, which is a breakdown product of the blood pigment.
This is what the color of your urine tells you about your health
Normal, healthy urine is clear, odorless, and light yellow in color. If your urine looks like this, you’re drinking enough and there are no signs of illness. The less you drink, the darker the urine because the concentration of urea is higher. However, it can also happen that the urine takes on other colors. Various factors can cause urine to become discolored. We explain what causes the different colors can have.
Whitish, cloudy urine
Whitish staining urine particles are present in whitish cloudy urine. These can indicate a malfunction of the kidneys , as well as wound processes in the area of the urinary tract. It is also possible that the whitish-cloudy urine is connected to tissue residues.
Light yellow to dark yellow urine
A slightly strong shade of yellow is also no cause for concern. Your fluid intake is normal, but shouldn’t be any less. Dietary supplements can stain urine a bright yellow. These include preparations with vitamin B2 and B12 , as well as vitamin D. With high doses of vitamin B12, the urine can also turn slightly reddish. If in doubt, have the symptoms clarified by a doctor.
Orange to brown urine
Dark, orange urine can initially indicate that you are drinking too little.
Hepatitis A, B, C, D or E
If the color of the urine does not change despite increased fluid intake, this can indicate a disease of the liver, eg hepatitis A, B, C, D or E. Hepatitis A, B, C and D are often manifested by signs such as:
- exhaustion
- loss of appetite
- headache, muscle and joint pain
- nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting and fever
- Aversion to fat and alcohol
Orange-colored urine is also common when the gallbladder excretes more of the bile pigment bilirubin. This happens when the bile duct is inflamed or even blocked , for example by gallstones .
The antibiotic nitrofurantoin can turn urine orange to brown.
Too much beta-carotene (eg in carrots) can turn the urine slightly orange.
Dark urine: Brown to black color
Medicines for Parkinson’s disease contain the active ingredients L-Dopa or alpha-methyldopa, which can turn the urine brownish to black. The urine is also discolored in the hereditary metabolic disease alkaptonuria. The cause of this is an enzyme defect, as a result of which the so-called homogentisic acid cannot be converted, which means it accumulates in the blood and discolours the urine when it comes into contact with air.
In the case of black skin cancer (“malignant melanoma”) in an advanced stage, it often happens that the pigment melanin breaks down in large numbers and is excreted in the urine.
Another cause of brown urine, which can become life-threatening, is something called rhabdomyolysis. A kind of coat that surrounds the muscle cells breaks down and pushes the muscle contents outwards. This can happen if you exercise too hard. The broken cells release the muscle pigment myoglobin, which causes the kidneys to flood. The urine turns brown. The dye attacks the kidney cells in large quantities, clogs the smallest vessels so that the urine can no longer flow out. risk of kidney failure. Rhabdomyolysis often feels like sore muscles at first , but the symptoms get worse and the affected tissue can also swell .
Green and blue urine
These colors are less common in urine, but certain medicines can cause them to appear. Amitriptyline (antidepressants), propofol (narcotics), indomethacin (antirheumatic drugs) or mitoxantrone (cancer therapy) can promote this coloration of the urine.
Even food colors such as brilliant blue FCF (E133) or patent blue V (E131) can turn acidic urine greenish. The dye methyl blue, which comes from Asia and is not approved in Europe, can also turn the urine green. This is found, for example, in Asian sweets that are brought back from vacation.
Red urine
Red-colored urine at first glance suggests blood . This can be caused by kidney diseases such as kidney stones or kidney inflammation. Urinary tract infections such as a bladder infection, side effects of medication (e.g. the antibiotic rifampicin), vascular diseases or foreign objects in the urethra can also cause blood in the urine. In order to determine the exact cause and, if necessary, rule out other diseases, you should definitely consult a doctor.
Reddish urine is harmless if it is caused by excessive consumption of foods with carotenes . The ingredient is found in carrots or tomatoes, for example. Beetroot can also cause the urine to turn red for a short time due to its ingredient betanine . Another cause of red urine can be muscle damage, for example from bruises. The muscle protein myoglobin is broken down via the lymphatic system and the blood and excreted in the urine. Incidentally, myoglobin is also responsible for the reddish color of medium-fried steak.
urine test strips
If your urine is discolored, you can use urine test strips from the pharmacy to test other components. These strips provide information about the ingredients in a very short time and draw conclusions about possible diseases.
This is what the urine strip tests:
- Leukocytes (white blood cells)
- Erythrocytes (red blood cells)
- protein content
- Ketones (breakdown product of fatty acids)
- Glucose content (sugar)
- PH value
diagnosis and treatment
To be able to make a diagnosis, a urologist or nephrologist takes a urine sample and first examines it with a test strip. A search is then made under the microscope for components such as bacteria that otherwise do not belong in the urine. It can be useful to measure the urea concentration. The patient collects his urine in a container for 24 hours. This is analyzed and gives conclusions about the filter performance of the kidneys .
Dark urine is treated with appropriate measures once the correct diagnosis has been made. If you are dehydrated, it is recommended to drink plenty of fluids. With diseases of the liver and gallbladder, the patient is treated with medication. If gallstones are the cause, they are removed surgically or with a mirror. If there is inflammation, the doctor will prescribe an antibiotic .