Urine colour changes: Noticed your urine looks different after a meal; odd colour, unusual smell, or a bit cloudy? It can be unsettling, but food is often the culprit. Urine is a quick readout of what’s happening inside your body, reflecting hydration, diet, and, at times, overall health.
Here are a few foods that can change your urine colour:
Beets:
Eating beets can turn urine pink, red, or reddish-brown. This “beeturia” comes from natural pigments that pass into the urine in some people. It’s usually harmless, though it can be alarming because red urine may resemble blood.
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Asparagus:
Asparagus can give urine a strong, sulfur-like odour, often compared to rotten cabbage. The smell comes from sulfur compounds in asparagus that your body breaks down into volatile chemicals. It’s harmless and simply reflects how the body processes the vegetable.
Coffee & caffeine:
Coffee, tea, and energy drinks act as mild diuretics, so you may pee more often. Urine can look lighter from dilution or darker if excess caffeine leaves you a bit dehydrated, making it more concentrated. Moderate intake is usually fine; overdoing it can dry you out.
Carrots:
A heavy intake of carrots or carrot juice can give urine a faint orange tint. That’s from beta-carotene, the pigment that colours carrots. It’s harmless, though very high amounts can also tint the skin slightly yellow-orange.
Berries & food dyes:
Some berries and artificially colored foods can temporarily turn urine blue-green or even purple. Candies and ice creams with strong colouring can do the same. It’s generally harmless and fades as the pigments pass through the body.
Spinach:
Spinach is rich in chlorophyll and oxalates, which can occasionally give urine a slightly greenish or deeper yellow tint and, in some people, make it look a bit cloudy (from crystallised oxalates). The effect is harmless and typically fades as you hydrate and flush the pigments out.
Vitamin B:
B-complex supplements, especially riboflavin (B2), can turn urine a bright, almost neon yellow. The colour is excess water-soluble vitamins being excreted and isn’t harmful. It usually appears within hours of a dose and settles once intake or frequency drops.
Alcohol:
Alcohol acts as a diuretic, so you pee more and lose fluids. If you don’t replace them, urine becomes darker and more concentrated and may smell stronger. The change reflects dehydration rather than a direct pigment effect; rehydration typically restores a lighter colour.
Eggs:
Eggs don’t usually change urine colour, but their sulfur-containing compounds can make urine odour more noticeable in some people, similar to asparagus, but milder.
When to check with a doctor?
If colour changes persist beyond a day or two, occur without a clear food cause, or come with pain, fever, foamy urine, or red/brown urine that could be blood, get medical advice.
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Urine often reflects what you’ve eaten and how hydrated you are. Foods like coffee, berries can cause harmless, short-lived shifts in colour or odour. Most variations clear quickly once those foods pass through. If changes persist despite avoiding likely triggers, it’s best to consult a healthcare professional.
