Health Journo Interview: What the colour of your urine says about your health

According to the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists, the human urine has been a useful tool of diagnosis since the earliest days of medicine.


The colour, density, and smell of urine can reveal much about the state of the health. Urine is the liquid by- product of the body secreted by the kidneys and excreted through the urethra. The urine removes excess water and wastes filtered from the blood by the kidney.


With many people knowing urine is a waste product, not much attention is given to it. What people fail to know is that the colour, the smell and the frequency with which they urinate give important
clues about the things happening inside the body.

The urine colour ranges from being transparent to dark yellow and brown colour. It should be known that the food eaten sometimes changes the colour of the urine, therefore, there is no need to panic
with colour changes in urine.

Speaking with a member pharmacist of the NAPPS Mr Samuel Lawal, below are some urine colours and what they say about your health as compiled by Health Journo reporter, Temidayo Williams:

Transparent or colourless: Your urine is transparent or colourless when you drink a lot of water.

Pale colour: This shows you are healthy and everything is fine inside you. It shows you are well hydrated. Pale colour of urine could also mean you are on diuretic; a substance that promotes the production of urine. It forces the body to get rid if unneeded water and salt.

Transparent Yellow: With this urine colour, you are normal. The yellow colour of the urine is as a result of a pigment called urochrome. Transparent yellow colour of urine is similar to pale colour in that it gives one a sense of normalcy within the body system.

Dark Yellow: This colour of urine could be normal. It shows there is high concentration of Urochrome in that urine. Little water intake often makes the urine darker as the urochrome is undiluted.

Drinking lots of water could help make the urine clearer in colour. However, if the colour doesn’t change after drinking water, it could be a sign something is wrong. A medical check-up would ease
off the tension.

Brown Ale: This colour of urine indicates the body is dehydrated. On the other hand, it could be a sign something more serious like a liver problem.

Drinking more water should sort the dehydration problem while seeing a doctor would guide one on the next step to be taken if indeed it is something serious.

Reddish Colour: This urine colour shows the presence of blood. It could be a symptom of many things; a kidney disease, urinary tract infections, tumors and other things. The best thing to do is to see a doctor for immediate medical attention. Sometimes the intake of some food could affect the colour of the urine and make kit reddish.

Cloudy Urine: Cloudy urine indicates the presence of phosphate. If this becomes regular, then it could result in kidney stone disease. Cloudy urine says there is an infection especially when it occurs
frequently.

 Orange Colour: This is a rare urine colour; but if seen, it means a lot of vitamin C or orange foods like carrots have been taken. Dark orange colour of urine indicates there is bile in that system especially if no orange food was consumed. The doctor should be seen immediately for proper tests.
However, it should be noted that some drugs, laxatives, chemotherapy treatment drugs could make the urine darker than normal.