Drinks can add color to urine primarily due to natural pigments from fruits and vegetables, artificial food colorings, and certain vitamins.
Fluids dilute the yellow pigments in urine. So the more you drink, the clearer your urine looks. When you drink less, the yellow color becomes stronger. Some foods and medications can change the color of urine.
Urine - abnormal color
Urochrome (urobilin) is a chemical that forms when protein metabolizes in your liver. It gives urine its yellow color.
Riboflavin (also known as vitamin B-2) is a member of the B family of vitamins (B complex). It's a water-soluble vitamin. Excess amounts are excreted through your kidneys. It makes the urine bright yellow.
When taking a supplement, it's important not to take too much. Taking 200mg or more a day of vitamin B6 can lead to a loss of feeling in the arms and legs known as peripheral neuropathy. This will usually improve once you stop taking the supplements.
Foods such as beets, fava beans, blackberries and rhubarb can make your pee reddish, or sometimes dark brown. Carrots can turn your pee light orange. Vitamin C supplements can also turn pee orange. Certain B vitamins can give pee a greenish tinge and make it smell.
Phenazopyridine and some constipation medicines can turn urine orange. So can sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), a medicine that lessens swelling and irritation. Some chemotherapy medicines for cancer also can make urine look orange.
If your urine has no color at all, you are most likely drinking a lot of water.
If you urinate often, and your pee is very light-colored or even clear, it could be a sign of diabetes.
Dark urine
Urine that is darker than usual is a common sign of liver damage. The urine may be brown, orange or amber.
Coffee and Tea: Consuming excessive amounts of tea or coffee can darken the color of urine. Colored Foods: Some foods, such as beets, can also give urine tea-colored hues. Medicines Certain medications (for example, some antibiotics or laxatives) also change the color of urine.
*Orange urine can be caused by various foods or medications or be a sign of potential liver problems. *Blue or green urine can be caused by medications that contain blue dyes like some antidepressants and antipsychotics, but it can also be caused by food dyes like those in blue Gatorade or artificially-dyed candy.
Healthy urine is clear (not cloudy), odorless and in a shade of yellow that can range from very pale to a darker, amber-like hue. “The shade of your urine depends on your hydration level,” explains Dr. Leong.
If your urine is persistently red or pink (and not from food), dark brown or cola-colored, orange with pale stools or jaundiced skin, cloudy, foamy, foul-smelling, green, purple, blue, or black, it's worth checking in.
Early Signs of Kidney Disease
Urine might have an ammonia smell due to eating certain foods, a urinary tract infection, a liver or kidney problem, or dehydration.
When you have not drank enough fluids your kidneys try to save as much water as they can and cause your urine to be darker in colour (more concentrated). Dark yellow urine is a sign that you are dehydrated and that you must drink more fluids to prevent dehydration.
When your body replaces old red blood cells, it creates bilirubin. This substance then moves to your gut, where it either gets absorbed back into the bloodstream or is broken down into a chemical called urobilinogen. Your kidneys then turn urobilinogen into urobilin—this makes your urine yellow.
Taking doses of vitamin B-12 might cause:
While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, here are 6 ingredients you should consider when thinking about vitamin supplements.