Color and smell: What urine reveals about health

Depending on the color and smell, harmless causes or illnesses can be behind it.

An adult excretes up to two liters of urine every day. “How much exactly it is depends not least on the amount you drink,” says Prof. Daniela Schultz-lampel, Director of the Continence Center Southwest of the Schwarzwald-Baar Klinikum. If the urine is healthy, it consists of 95 percent water. The rest is made up of degradation products – urea, acids and salts, for example. The regular color is light to dark yellow.

“The less someone drinks, the deeper yellow the urine is,” explains Schultz-lampel. But sometimes it also takes on other colors. This can be harmless – or a reason to go to the doctor. For example, persistent dark yellow urine can be an indication of liver or gallbladder disease.

The ideal color and indication of disease

“Ideally, urine has a color like champagne,” says naturopath René Gräber from Preetz in Schleswig-Holstein. A urinary tract infection can be hidden behind cloudy urine. “Rather rare is a greenish colored urine.” Then there may be an infection with bacteria, according to the expert Daniela Schultz-lampel. However, certain medications, such as antidepressants, can also cause this coloration.

Foamy urine may be a sign that something is wrong with your kidneys – or that there is still detergent in the toilet.

Discoloration from food and dietary supplements

Food is another possible cause of non-yellow urine: blueberries, for example, turn it pink. For many, all the alarm bells ring when the urine is reddish. But sometimes it can be harmless. “Anyone who has eaten beetroot or large amounts of raspberries is normal for a temporary reddish urine color,” says Graeber.

Dietary supplements (NEM) can also affect the color of the urine. For example, a red coloring can occur with a NEM with vitamin B12. A vitamin B complex or vitamin D, on the other hand, can cause the urine to turn yellow. Iron supplements may even stain the urine brown to black.

If no explanation can be found spontaneously for the discolouration of the urine and if it lasts for a long time, you should see a doctor as soon as possible. Be particularly vigilant when it turns red. Because blood in the urine can be a sign of a serious illness. The same applies to black urine: it can even be an indication of a tumor.

Blood in the urine

“In women, the most common cause of blood in the urine is a urinary tract infection,” says Matthias Orth. The medical director of the Institute for Laboratory Medicine at the Marienhospital in Stuttgart is a board member of the Professional Association of German Laboratory Doctors.

Inflammation of the kidneys and injuries to the kidneys or bladder can also be behind blood in the urine. Blood in the urine can also be an indication of a tumor or kidney stones.

What the smell reveals

In addition to the color, the smell of urine also reveals something about the state of health. “Normally, fresh urine has no smell at all,” explains Schultz-lampel. The odor inherent in urine only develops later, when the urine has been decomposed with bacteria. However, temporary changes in the smell can occur, but they are usually harmless. “They are diet-related and occur, for example, after eating asparagus, B vitamins, onions and medicines,” says Gräber.

If the urine smells of ammonia, this can be an indication of a urinary tract infection. A sweet smell may indicate diabetes mellitus. If the urine smells fishy, there is often an infection in the genital area, especially in women. In addition to a urinary tract infection or bladder infection, this can also be a sexually transmitted disease.

Basically, as soon as the color and smell of the urine change after two or three trips to the toilet, this should be examined by a doctor. “This is especially true when there is pain, fever and discomfort,” says Schultz-lampel.