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The colour usually only tells how much you drank — unless it is red or very dark.
Also known as: urine colour · dark urine · blood in urine · foamy urine · hydration
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
A quick look in the toilet is the simplest self-observation there is — and mostly the colour just says whether you’ve drunk enough. It varies quite normally with food, vitamins and medicines. Pale yellow is ideal, darker means “drink a bit more”. Good to know so you don’t get a fright: beetroot turns it pinkish, vitamin B2 bright yellow. Only if urine is red or brown for no clear reason, with burning, pain or fever, does it warrant a check — usually for reassurance. Tap a colour on the graphic.
Regular small amounts keep the colour pale — not only when thirsty.
Urine concentrates overnight — no cause for concern.
Beetroot, rhubarb, blackberries and a few medicines colour the urine reddish. If the colour lasts more than a day without such an explanation, a dipstick belongs in between — it settles it in a minute.
Vitamin B2 in multivitamin preparations turns the urine bright yellow to greenish. That is the surplus being excreted — not a sign of an illness.
Dark, foaming urine together with pale stool and yellowish eyes points to the bile, not to too little drinking. That combination belongs looked at promptly.
Very dark urine after unaccustomed, hard training together with severe muscle soreness and weakness is a reason to call the same day. Breaking-down muscle tissue that strains the kidneys can be behind it.
Urine that foams briefly is ordinary. If the foam stands for minutes and this repeats, a measurement of protein in the urine is worthwhile.
Colour mainly follows concentration: pale at about two litres a day, darker below that. Beetroot turns the urine pink in about one in ten people, for one to two days. B vitamins colour it bright yellow, because the surplus is excreted within hours. Brownish urine together with pale stool points to the bile ducts. Persistently dark urine despite drinking, for more than two days, is the point to look into it.
The most common reason for dark urine is simply too little water. Pale yellow is the goal.
Beetroot, blackberries, rhubarb and vitamin B2 (bright yellow) colour it harmlessly.
Red/brown for no clear reason, burning, pain, fever, or persistently very foamy urine: have it checked calmly.
Brown urine together with yellowish eyes/skin can point to the liver/bile — see a doctor.
A single dark morning urine is normal (concentrated overnight). Only a persistent pattern matters.
The first step with any unusual colour: it tells real blood from colourings out of food and medicines — beetroot, rhubarb and some drugs colour strongly without anything being wrong.
Dark, beer-brown urine together with pale stool and yellow eyes speaks for the liver or a back-up of bile.
Very dark, concentrated urine usually means too little drinking. If it persists despite drinking, kidney function belongs checked.
Cola-coloured urine after heavy exertion or a long time lying down comes from muscle breaking down. That belongs looked at quickly, because the kidneys suffer from it.
The colour mainly measures how concentrated the urine is. Pale yellow across the day is the aim, dark in the morning is normal — and colourless all day means too much rather than too little.
The most common reason for bright yellow to greenish urine: the surplus from multivitamin preparations is excreted. That is expected and no sign of an illness.
In a high dose vitamin C can distort the dipstick — blood and sugar then show up falsely negative. Anyone taking a lot of it should say so at the urine test.
They colour the urine reddish in some people, harmlessly and briefly. If the colour lasts more than a day without such an explanation, a dipstick settles the question in a minute.
The most common reason for bright yellow urine. A multivitamin or a B course is enough; at 400 mg a day the colour is impossible to miss. It says nothing about the body, only about the capsule.
In larger amounts over weeks it turns palms and soles orange — the skin, not the whites of the eyes. That is exactly how it is told apart from jaundice.
From about 500 mg a day it distorts urine test strips: blood and sugar can read falsely negative. Leave it out for two days before a sample, otherwise the strip measures the capsule too.
This hormone decides the colour: it pulls water back out of the urine when the body needs it. Dark urine in the morning is therefore normal — persistently pale, thin urine with a lot of thirst is worth the question.
Large amounts of urine together with strong thirst are the oldest described sign of too much sugar: what the kidney cannot hold back takes water with it.
Cucumber, melon, soups count as fluid too.