Is yellow urine a sign of a health problem? Click here to find the answer →

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“You can tolerate excrement, but not urine”, although it is a joke, it is not without reason. As one of the three urgent things in life, we have to “pee” three, four, five, six, seven or eight times a day. But have you ever really cared about the content separated from your body? Some people really care about their urine and think that they can analyze their health status by observing its state. The most common saying is: My urine is a little yellow recently, it seems that I have got a fever. Does this statement make sense?

It’s true that the color of urine is closely related to our physical health!

analyze

The "waste water" filtered out by the kidneys is what we call "urine"

The kidney is the "filter" of the human body. The blood of the human body flows through the kidney for filtration every day, and through this link, the metabolic waste in the blood is discharged from the body. Under normal circumstances, the glomerulus filters out 180L of water every day, which we call "primary urine", but 99% of this primary urine will be reabsorbed by the renal tubules, and the remaining 1%, which is about 1.8L, can be discharged from the body, called "final urine", which is our urine, or "urine".

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The main component of urine is water, followed by various metabolic wastes of the human body, metabolic components of drugs, etc. We all know that water must be colorless and transparent, and the color of urine mainly depends on the content of various metabolic substances in it.

The color and depth of urine is the "barometer" of physical health

Normal fresh urine is a transparent, amber liquid. The color of urine can be dark or light depending on the amount of urine. The depth of urine is directly related to our physical health. It can be said that "one can know the whole body by looking at the color of urine."

1

Clear as water

If the urine is very light in color, or even as clear as tap water, it means that you drink a lot of water, produce a lot of urine, and the components in the urine are diluted. Generally speaking, this is a normal phenomenon, and nephrologists also hope that everyone will drink more water and urinate more. First, it can dilute the concentration of calcium oxalate and uric acid to prevent the formation of kidney stones; second, it can dilute the retention time of drug metabolites in the kidneys and reduce the damage of drugs to the kidneys; and the continuous flushing of urine can also prevent urinary tract infections.

2

Transparent light yellow

This indicates that the kidneys are normal, the body is healthy, and the amount of water consumed is moderate.

3

Dark yellow urine

The yellow color of urine is because it contains a very small amount of bilirubin. In patients with certain liver and gallbladder diseases, such as acute and chronic hepatitis, gallstones, cholecystitis, and pancreatic cancer compressing the bile duct and causing bile duct obstruction, the bilirubin in the blood will increase significantly, and when it is excreted in the urine, it will cause the urine to be dark yellow.

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4

Red urine

The most common situation is hematuria. Kidney diseases such as IgA nephropathy and damage to the glomerular filtration membrane will cause red blood cells in the blood to leak into the urine, resulting in hematuria. Extrarenal diseases such as ureteral stones, stones that scratch the ureteral mucosa, or severe urinary tract infection mucosal damage and bleeding can also cause hematuria. In mild hematuria, the urine is light red, similar to the color of meat washing water. In severe hematuria, the urine is red, and even blood clots can be seen. In addition, after eating certain foods (such as beets) or taking certain medications (such as rifampicin, aminopyrine, etc.), the urine also turns red, but this is not hematuria. Everyone should pay attention that if you encounter red urine, you must go to the hospital for routine urine tests and urine sediment microscopy examinations, and you must not be careless.

5

Increased foam in the urine

Some friends will find that their urine has a lot of foam, which means that the urine contains a lot of organic components such as protein, sugar, bilirubin, inflammatory secretions, etc. The surface tension of the urine increases, and foam will appear in the urine when urinating. In severe cases, it will be similar to the degree of hops when pouring beer. This situation is mostly caused by glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, increased bilirubin, urinary tract infection, etc. In addition, in some cases, drinking less water and concentrated urine will also cause foamy urine. Although the above diseases will cause foamy urine, it does not mean that there must be something wrong with the body if there is foamy urine. It is also necessary to go to the hospital for a urine test for identification.

6

Brown urine

Some people find that their urine is the color of strong tea, or even soy sauce or cola. This is common in cases of muscle lysis caused by excessive fitness, strenuous exercise, muscle crush injury, etc. Myoglobin leaks into the urine when muscle fibers are damaged, forming this series of colors. In addition, hemoglobinuria caused by massive hemolysis is also this color.

Does the dark or light color of urine have anything to do with getting a fever?

What we call "getting angry" is just a folk saying. It is difficult for modern medicine to give an accurate explanation of what "getting angry" means. For the time being, we will understand it as an infection. Inflammatory decomposition metabolism increases, and the content of metabolic waste in the urine increases, which may cause the urine to become darker. Drinking more water and urinating more often can relieve "getting angry" and make the urine lighter. As for the pH value of urine, there is actually an approximate range. Generally speaking, normal urine is neutral to acidic, with a pH between 5.5 and 7.0. The metabolic waste in the urine is acidic. If too much metabolic waste is produced, or if you drink less water and the urine is concentrated, the content of metabolic waste in the urine will increase, and the urine will be more acidic.

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You can see that our "pee" carries a lot of biological information. Urine tests can not only detect kidney disease early, but also detect medication use. Urine tests in sports competitions are based on this principle. In addition, modern medicine can also analyze trace components in urine to detect tumors and other diseases early. In short, urine color is an alarm for physical health, and urine tests are non-invasive, cheap, and convenient. Frequently observing the color of urine and regular urine tests can detect many diseases early.

in conclusion

Transparent light yellow urine indicates good health and proper drinking of water. Dark yellow urine may be related to certain liver and gallbladder diseases. In addition, dark urine color is also related to increased inflammatory decomposition and increased metabolic waste in urine. At this time, drink more water and urinate more, and the urine color will become lighter.

Author: Li Qing Tianjin University TEDA Hospital

Review | Yu Yusheng Chief Physician of Nephrology Department, Eastern Theater Command General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

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