Urine Color

Normal urine color ranges from pale yellow to deep amber — the result of a pigment called urochrome and how diluted or concentrated the urine is.

Pigments and other compounds in certain foods and medications may change your urine color. Beets, berries and fava beans are among the foods most likely to affect urine color. Many over-the-counter and prescription medications give urine vivid tones, such as raspberry red, lemon yellow or greenish blue.

An unusual urine color can be a sign of disease. For instance, deep red to brown urine is an identifying characteristic of porphyria, a rare, inherited disorder of red blood cells.

Symptoms

Normal urine color varies, depending on how much water you drink. Fluids dilute the yellow pigments in urine, so the more you drink, the clearer your urine looks. When you drink less, the color becomes more concentrated. Severe dehydration can produce urine the color of amber.

But sometimes urine can turn colors far beyond what’s normal, including red, blue, green, dark brown and cloudy white.

When to see a doctor

Seek medical attention if you have:

• Visible blood in your urine. Bloody urine is common in urinary tract infections and kidney stones. Both of these problems usually cause pain. Painless bleeding may signal a more serious problem, such as cancer.
• Dark or orange urine. If your urine is dark or orange — particularly if you also have pale stools and yellow skin and eyes — your liver might be malfunctioning.

Causes

Discolored urine is often caused by medications, certain foods or food dyes. In some cases, though, changes in urine color may be caused by specific health problems.

Red or pink urine

Despite its alarming appearance, red urine isn’t necessarily serious. Red or pink urine may be caused by:

• Blood. Factors that can cause urinary blood (hematuria) include urinary tract infections, enlarged prostate, cancerous and noncancerous tumors, kidney cysts, long-distance running, and kidney or bladder stones.
• Foods. Beets, blackberries and rhubarb can turn urine red or pink.
• Medications. Rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane), an antibiotic often used to treat tuberculosis, can turn urine reddish orange — as can phenazopyridine (Pyridium), a drug that numbs urinary tract discomfort, and laxatives containing senna.
• Medications. Medications that can turn urine orange include rifampin; the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine (Azulfidine); phenazopyridine (Pyridium), a drug that numbs urinary tract discomfort; some laxatives; and certain chemotherapy drugs.

Orange urine

Orange urine may result from:

Medical conditions. In some cases, orange urine can indicate a problem with your liver or bile duct, especially if you also have light-colored stools. Orange urine may also be caused by dehydration, which can concentrate your urine and make it much deeper in color.

Blue or green urine

Blue or green urine may be caused by:

• Dyes. Some brightly colored food dyes can cause green urine. Dyes used for some tests of kidney and bladder function can turn urine blue.
• Medications. A number of medications produce blue or green urine, including amitriptyline, indomethacin (Indocin) and propofol (Diprivan).
• Medical conditions. Familial benign hypercalcemia, a rare inherited disorder, is sometimes called blue diaper syndrome because children with the disorder have blue urine. Green urine sometimes occurs during urinary tract infections caused by pseudomonas bacteria.

Dark brown or cola-colored urine

Brown urine can result from:

• Food. Eating large amounts of fava beans, rhubarb or aloe can cause dark brown urine.
• Medications. A number of drugs can darken urine, including the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and primaquine, the antibiotics metronidazole (Flagyl) and nitrofurantoin, laxatives containing cascara or senna, and methocarbamol — a muscle relaxant.
• Medical conditions. Some liver and kidney disorders can turn urine dark brown, as can some urinary tract infections.
• Extreme exercise. Muscle injury from extreme exercise can result in pink or cola-colored urine and kidney damage.

Cloudy or murky urine

Urinary tract infections and kidney stones can cause urine to appear cloudy or murky.

Risk factors

Eating foods that can discolor urine, such as berries, beets and rhubarb, or taking certain medications makes it more likely that you’ll have harmless changes in the color of your urine. Whether you react depends on the amount of food or medication you take, your state of hydration, and your own body chemistry.

Factors that put you at risk of medical conditions that can affect urine color include the following:

• Age. Tumors of the bladder and kidney, which can cause blood in the urine, are more common in older people. Men older than 50 occasionally have urinary blood due to an enlarged prostate gland.
• Your sex. More than half of all women will have a urinary tract infection at some point, often with some urinary bleeding. Men are more likely to have kidney stones or bladder stones.
• Family history. A family history of kidney disease or kidney stones makes it more likely that you’ll develop these problems. Both can cause blood in the urine.
• Strenuous exercise. Distance runners are most at risk, but anyone who exercises vigorously can have urinary bleeding.