What Your Pee Says About Your Health
We don’t tend to think about it a great deal, but your pee actually says a lot about your health - just like your other bodily emissions. Pee can contain all sorts of factors - both good and bad - that are indicative of the state of your bladder, your overall metabolic health, and even whether you’re at risk of disease in the future.
Clear
If your pee is clear, then good news - you’re probably completely healthy.
Usually, pee is clear when you have a drink but you’re already hydrated. The constituents of pee that color it yellow aren’t present in high enough concentrations, so it looks very similar to water.
Straw-Colored
It’s a similar story with straw-colored pee. If it is light yellow, it suggests that you’re healthy and well-hydrated.
Dark Yellow, Amber, Or Brown
If your pee is dark yellow, amber, or brown, it can indicate dehydration. The darker the pee, the more fluids you need to take on. People who don’t drink for a day will often have extremely dark urine as the body tries to eliminate unwanted waste products.
Pink Urine
Pink urine can be quite scary when you first encounter it, but there’s usually no need to worry. Brad Schaeffer with MedComp points out that there are all types of different pee, with many of them completely benign. Some people, for instance, don’t have the ability to properly process the color pigment in veggies, like beets. And, therefore, it comes out in their pee, turning it red or pink.
Pink pee can also be a sign of blood in the urine. So if you haven’t eaten any unusual foods, tell your doctor.
Foul-Smelling Pee
Sometimes your pee can smell strong, but it shouldn’t smell foul. If it does, then it could be an indication of sexually-transmitted infection.
Fruity Pee
Ideally, you shouldn’t have any sugar in your pee. The body is supposed to shuttle it all into cells before it goes too high.
If the kidneys detect that your levels are shooting up, however, they’ll begin processing blood glucose and evacuating it through the urine. The result is fruity pee with an almost sweet smell. If you were to taste it, it’d also taste quite sweet too (that’s how doctors first came to diagnose people with diabetes).
If you think you might have diabetes, go and see your doctor and get them to carry out the proper tests. Once you have a diagnosis, you’ll get access to drugs and insulin to manage the condition.
Ammonia Pee
If you’re extremely dehydrated, your pee might take on an ammonia-like smell. Again, this means that you need to drink more water and be conscious of salt intake.
Blue Or Green Pee
Some people develop blue or green pee in response to food dyes. It doesn’t mean that there’s a problem with your body. It just means that you’re not able to process and de-color the color-causing compounds in the pee. Blue pee can also occur in a rare condition known as blue diaper syndrome.
