Overview

Regular urine color ranges from clear to pale yellow. But certain things can change the color.

Foods such as beets, blackberries and fava beans can turn urine pink or red, for example. And some medicines can give urine vivid tones, such as orange or greenish-blue.

An unusual urine color also can be a sign of a health problem. For instance, some urinary tract infections can turn urine milky white. Kidney stones, some cancers and other diseases sometimes make urine look red due to blood.

Symptoms

The regular color of urine varies. It depends on how much water you drink. Fluids dilute the yellow pigments in urine. So the more you drink, the clearer your urine looks. When you drink less, the yellow color becomes stronger.

But urine can turn colors far beyond what’s typical, including:

• Red.
• Blue.
• Green.
• Orange.
• Dark brown.
• Cloudy white.

When to see a doctor

See your health care provider if you have:

• Blood in your urine. This is common in urinary tract infections and kidney stones. Those problems often cause pain. Painless bleeding might be a sign of a more serious problem, such as cancer.
• Dark or orange urine. This can be a sign that the liver isn’t working correctly, especially if you also have pale stools and yellow skin and eyes.

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