Color: The normal color of the urine darkens on standing for longer than 30 minutes due to the oxidation of urobilinogen to urobilin. Some foods like beets can cause red-colored urine.
Dark-Colored Yellow Urine
Urine that is amber- or honey-colored, or even a dark orange, might indicate that your body isn't getting enough water. 2 "If you're dehydrated and you are holding onto more of the actual water itself, the urine will become darker and darker," said Dr. Palese.
Because people tend to sleep for several hours without having a drink, their urine is normally darker when urinating first thing in the morning. Darker urine during the day or evening may be one of the signs that someone is dehydrated meaning they are not drinking enough fluids.
If you can't hand your urine sample in within 1 hour, you should put the container in a sealed plastic bag then store it in the fridge at around 4C. Do not keep it for longer than 24 hours. The bacteria in the urine sample can multiply if it is not kept in a fridge. If this happens, it could affect the test results.
Eating lots of fava beans, rhubarb or aloe can cause dark brown urine. Medicines. Some medicine that can darken urine are: Chloroquine and primaquine, which treat and prevent malaria.
When kidneys are failing, the increased concentration and accumulation of substances in urine lead to a darker color which may be brown, red or purple. The color change is due to abnormal protein or sugar, high levels of red and white blood cells, and high numbers of tube-shaped particles called cellular casts.
Dark yellow urine is a sign that you are dehydrated and that you must drink more fluids to prevent dehydration. Your fluid intake goal is to make your urine no darker than the colour of # 3 on the chart. The darker colours (4-8) are signs of dehydration and may cause you to become ill.
As I said before, urine that's in the refrigerator may turn cloudy because of the precipitation of crystals. If that's the case, recentrifuging the urine, acidifying it, or rewarming it to room temperature will clear the urine. It will not clear a urine full of white cells and bacteria.
Sample Collection
Urine drug testing generally requires a minimum of 30 mL of urine (depending on the kit type) collected in a private restroom.
Many times, your level of hydration causes a change in the color of your urine. If you're severely dehydrated, it may even appear brown. There are other causes of brown pee besides dehydration. Some of them are harmless, while others can be more serious — like infection or blood.
If dark urine does not go away even after drinking plenty of water or traces of blood in your urine, seek medical attention immediately. Urine can change colour and take on a darker hue depending on what is causing it: dehydration, medications, one's diet, or a health condition.
Use your first morning pee if you can. This is the time of day when your HCG levels will be the most concentrated and easily detected. If you do it at another time of day, try to make sure your pee has been in your bladder for at least three hours.
Holding it in for too long gives bacteria the chance to multiply and settle in the bladder, leading to infection. Holding urine can overstretch the bladder and lead to voiding dysfunction, which is a lack of coordination between the bladder muscle and the urethra.
“Normal urine is pale yellow to amber in color and is clear. Darker urine is often a sign of dehydration. If you notice that your urine is darker than normal and you have no other symptoms, try drinking some more water and see if this helps your urine return to a lighter color,” Alyssa said.
Refrigeration can result in the precipitation of urates or phosphates, which may obscure other pathologic constituents in the microscopic examination of the urine sediment. According to NCCLS, If the urine is also to be cultured, it should be refrigerated during transit and held refrigerated until cultured.
Urine normally becomes hazy or cloudy when left at room temperature. This can be reversed by adding a few drops of acid. Vaginal contamination is quite a common cause of cloudy urine in female patients. After the food (vegetable/meat), urates or phosphate may produce cloudiness in the urine.
Foamy, frothy or bubbly urine.
Examples include Stealth (peroxidase and peroxide), Klear (nitrite), Clean ADD-IT-ive (glutaraldehyde) and Urine Luck (pyridinium chlorochromate [PCC]). In addition, iodine is a strong oxidizing agent and may potentially destroy abused drugs, especially marijuana metabolites (2).
The only thing that affects a dilute sample is the amount of fluid taken in within a short period of time prior to providing the urine sample. If you are seeing results that show you are getting close to a dilute sample, try to stop drinking any fluids 2-4 hours prior to providing the sample.
Pale or transparent yellow urine
Diabetes insipidus is a condition in which the body produces excess urine. It can cause people to pass large quantities of light-colored urine every time they urinate. It can also cause people to feel very thirsty, leading them to drink fluids frequently.
Morning is when your urine will be most concentrated. So, if your morning urine is a pale, straw color, you're probably well hydrated and healthy. At bedtime, it should look as clear as water or at least pale yellow. If it doesn't, you may need to boost your fluid intake.
Is it a UTI? Urinary tract infections (UTIs) may also cause an abnormal appearance of the urine such as cloudiness, brown or red color, or an unusual smell.