Is a change in urine color serious? Discover common reasons for urine colors, including various shades of yellow, red, pink, orange, blue, purple, & green.
Normal urine tends to be yellow or straw-colored and clear. Many people may experience a change in urine color, which can be quite dramatic or subtle. Some color changes in the urine may be normal or expected while others may be signs of a serious health problem. Urine color changes may give information about a person’s health, eating habits, treatments or medications, and more.
What Causes Light Yellow, Bright Yellow, or Dark Yellow Urine?
Light urine is usually produced by drinking a lot of fluids. This might be a very normal occurrence, but it could also be cause for concern. People who are excessively thirsty and tend to have consistently very light yellow or almost clear urine may have diabetes insipidus. Sometimes diabetes may also cause urine to have a sweet smell if large amounts of sugar are being excreted in the urine.
Bright yellow urine may be due to dehydration or liver problems (see next paragraphs) or from medications or nutritional supplements. For example, B vitamins and carotene tend to cause the urine to appear bright yellow, even when a person is adequately hydrated. Eating large amounts of foods containing B vitamins, such as whole grains, may produce a brighter yellow hue to the urine.
Dark yellow urine, or urine that is amber or deep yellow, is often due to dehydration, which tends to occur when people do not take in as much water as the body is excreting. Warm weather, high fevers, excessive sweating, vomiting, laxative use, or diarrhea may contribute to dehydration with the result of darker yellow urine.
Dark urine not related to dehydration may be due to a liver disorder, including infections such as hepatitis or cirrhosis. Certain medications may cause liver damage as well. People who have liver damage may also have a jaundiced appearance in which the whites of the eyes and skin may have a yellow hue.
What Causes Brown or Tea-colored Urine?
Brown urine may be due to eating foods such as rhubarb and fava beans. Aloe might also produce urine with a brown hue. Liver conditions, such as cirrhosis and hepatitis, may produce urine that is brown or looks like tea. A kidney disease called acute glomerulonephritis may also product urine that is brown or looks like cola.
Medications may cause brown or darker urine, such as:
- certain antimalarial drugs
- laxatives with cascara or senna
- metronidazole
- nitrofurantoin
- methocarbamol
What Causes Orange, Red, or Pink Urine?
Orange urine may have several possible causes. This may be the result of dehydration as described above. Laxatives may produce orange colored urine. Certain medications, such as Pyridium, Rifampin, or Coumadin, tend to produce orange urine and may also turn other body fluids, such as tears, an orange color.
Foods and drinks may also cause the urine to turn orange, including drinks with dyes that produce an orange color. Nutritional supplements, vitamins, or foods such as carrots and winter squash, that contain carotene, B complex vitamins, or vitamin C may also contribute to orange-colored urine.
Red or pink urine has many other possible causes. One of the more serious causes of red urine includes blood in the urine, which commonly occurs with a UTI, or urinary tract infection. Strenuous exercise, bladder cancer, cystitis, kidney infection, an injury to the kidneys or urethra, an enlarged prostate, or tuberculosis may also cause blood in the urine, or hematuria. Porphyria or hemolytic anemia may also cause the urine to turn red.
Several foods may cause the urine to turn red or pink, including:
- beets
- blackberries
- boysenberries
- rhubarb
- cereals and other foods with red dyes
- drinks with a red dye
Medications might also turn urine a red color. Certain laxatives, particularly those that resemble chocolate candy, thorazine, or propofol may produce red urine. Lead poisoning and mercury poisoning may also produce urine that is red or pink.
What Causes Blue, Purple, or Dark Green Urine?
Perhaps the most common cause of “blue” or “green” urine might not be a change in urine color at all but might appear that color as a result of certain cleaning fluids in the toilet water.
Blue urine may appear due to artificial colors added to foods, drinks, or multivitamins. Some foods, such as asparagus, may give urine a dark green or blue appearance and may also produce a distinctive smell. Having excessive amounts of calcium in the body, also known as familial hypercalcemia, may produce blue or dark green urine.
Some of the more common medications that may cause dark green or blue urine include:
- amitriptyline
- cimetidine
- indomethacin
- phenergan
- certain medications that treat urinary pain
Changes in Urine Color May Have Many Causes
Urine may be a variety of colors, including yellow, orange, brown, red, pink, green, purple, or blue. Although a change in urine color may be simply due to how hydrated a person is, eating certain foods, or taking particular medications, some changes in urine color may indicate a serious health problem. People who are experiencing an unexplained change in urine color should consult with a healthcare provider for further evaluation.
The above information includes some of the more common causes for urine color changes. Other causes are possible. This article is for informational purposes and should not be considered medical advice.
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Sources:
University of Maryland Medical Center’s 2009 online article “Urine – Abnormal Color – Overview”
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research 1998 – 2009 online article “Urine Color”
Health Grades, Inc. May 5, 2010 online article “Causes of Blue Urine”
Collective Wisdom.com January 28, 2008 online article “The Color of Your Urine – What it Means”
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