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Purple, Orange, or Green Urine? What Your Pee Can Reveal About Your Health

Adrienne Szendrey3 min read
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Purple, Orange, or Green Urine? What Your Pee Can Reveal About Your Health — Health
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Pale Yellow?

Pale Yellow?
After your body filters out useful substances, the remaining fluid leaving your system mostly contains waste products. These are usually salts, hormones, and minerals. Healthy urine is about 96% water, with the rest made up of these waste materials. The pale yellow color comes from a pigment called urochrome, a byproduct of breaking down green bile fluid. While most bile, which helps digest fats, leaves your body through stool, about a tenth is filtered by your kidneys and turned into urochrome, showing the balance of waste and water in your urine.

Bright Yellow?

Bright Yellow?
If your urine suddenly turns "very" yellow, don’t worry: it’s likely due to vitamins from supplements. You can’t get enough of these vitamins from natural sources like fruits and veggies to cause this change. High doses of B and C vitamins enter your bloodstream directly instead of your gut, and your kidneys quickly filter out the excess. Since these are water-soluble vitamins, your body can’t store them — any extra must leave your system, which is how nature designed it. So, bright yellow urine is a sign you might want to cut back on supplements.

Brownish or Orange?

Brownish or Orange?
Dark urine is one of the clearest signs of dehydration. While it’s normal for morning urine to be a bit darker, if you notice this, try drinking a big glass of water an hour before bed. Orange color can also result from an imbalance in your salt levels, causing your kidneys to retain more water and concentrate the pigments in your urine. Eating large amounts of beta-carotene can also cause orange urine, but doctors warn it might signal a bile duct blockage leading to jaundice. If your urine stays dark for a while, it’s a good idea to check in with your doctor.

Purple or Greenish?

Purple or Greenish?
If you’ve never seen this before, you might wonder why urine can be purple or green. Purple can be a rare genetic condition called porphyria, where the body produces too much purple pigment called porphyrin, which then exits through urine. This condition can cause nervous system and mental health issues. As for green urine, certain bacteria can produce pigments like this. For example, the long-named Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria can cause bladder infections if it spreads from stool due to improper wiping habits. Both colors mean it’s time to see a doctor.

Pink or Red?

Pink or Red?
If you’ve eaten beets, rhubarb, blackberries, or other foods with strong pigments, relax — it’s just betalain pigment leaving your body, which is hard to break down. Artificial food coloring can also temporarily cause this. After intense exercise like sprinting, competitive tennis, or boxing, your bladder wall might get irritated, causing bleeding — a natural response. But if no food explains the color, it’s wise to see a urologist. Besides the fact that this level of intense exercise isn’t healthy, blood in urine can signal serious issues. Unfortunately, in one out of five cases, it’s a sign of bladder cancer. Do you pay attention to these signals your body sends you?
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