If your pee is a transparent yellow, you're probably healthy and hydrated. If not, we have a few things to talk about.
A new video from AsapScience breaks down the different colors our pee can turn due to different factors. Our urine can be every color of the rainbow, it turns out, and each color means something different. Here's the scoop:
If it's yellow...
You're probably healthy, but different shades mean different things. A honey hue may indicate you have high levels of urobolin in your pee, meaning you're a bit dehydrated and should drink water. A bright, darkish yellow means you're on the verge of being dehydrated and should drink water soon, while clear pee means you've either been drinking a lot of water or you've been drinking caffeine and alcohol. If your pee is a transparent yellow (as noted above), you're good.
If it's brown...
Don't be alarmed! This may mean you've been eating a lot of rhubarb, fava beans or aloe, or it could be a side effect of a laxative, muscle relaxer or antibiotic.
If it's purple...
You might have porphyria, which means your body is deficient in the enzymes it needs to produce heme, an essential part of red blood cells, according to AsapScience. So if you're peeing purple, talk to your doctor.
If it's blue...
This could be a sign of familial hypercalcemia, a rare genetic disease caused by excess calcium in the blood that's usually found in children. Additionally, some medications have methylene blue in them, which causes a blue hue.
If it's green...
It's weird, sure, but AsapScience says green pee probably isn't a huge deal. It could be a result of vitamin intake, a new medication or green food dye.
It's red or pink...
It's probably time to have a chat with your doctor. While red or pink pee could be a result of eating too many beets or blackberries, it could also be a sign of an an enlarged prostate or bladder cancer.
If it's orange...
You probably have a lot of vitamin C in your body, or maybe you've been eating a bunch of carrots, which produces carotene. It could also be a side effect of a drug like Pyridium, which is used to treat urinary tract infections.
If your pee is anything but transparent yellow, don't ignore it. As the Cleveland Clinic puts it, "human urine has been a useful tool of diagnosis since the earliest days of medicine. The color, density, and smell of urine can reveal much about the state of our health."
So think about what you're putting into your body, and if anything seems really off, see a doctor.
