What Does Your Pee Say About You?

Peeing — it's something all of us do every day, but do you ever really pay attention to it? If you don't, you probably should, because your pee says a lot about you — According to ASAPScience, it can tell you everything from if you're dehydrated to if you have a rare disease. So the next time you're on the John and are about to flush, don't. Take a quick peek at your urine (no one will know, I promise) just to make sure that urine perfect health. Ha, get it?? Sorry not sorry, there is no way on this planet I would have passed up a pun that corny.

The folks over at ASAPScience (remember them, the people who told us we are all drinking coffee wrong?) have created a video detailing all the different colors your pee could be, and what that might indicate about your health. Did you know that you can pee purple and blue? Pretty fascinating stuff. You can basically pee with all the colors of the wind (though you probably don't want to since a few of those colors could indicate some pretty serious health problems). But on the bright side, a lot of times your urine appears colored it's due to the foods your eating or your medication. So let's take a look at the urine rainbow so you can determine if your pee is normal or not.

Red

If your pee is red, you could have blood in your urine, which could be caused by a lot of things, including a UTI, kidney stone, sickle cell anemia, or kidney disease (among many others). Certain medications can also make your blood appear red. But if you eat a lot of brightly-colored foods like beets and blackberries, you might not need to go running to the doctor, since those foods can also make your urine red (it's actually a condition called "beeturia," fun fact).

Orange

Orange urine could mean that you're consuming a lot of Vitamin C or carrots. It can also be caused by medications, like pyridium, the pain killer they give you if you have a UTI. Can confirm, pyridium makes your pee BRIGHT ORANGE, like NEON, which hopefully your prescribing doctor would have warned you about anyway.

Blue

If you're peeing blue, chances are you knew about it before reading this article. That's because blue urine is often caused by a condition called familial hypercalcemia, an inherited condition that's caused by excessive calcium in the blood. It usually appears in children and is also called "blue diaper syndrome," so if you're old enough to read and haven't previously had blue urine, odds are you won't now. But I still thought it was interesting.

Purple

Purple urine (seriously, who knew that was even possible?) could be a sign of Porphyria, a group of disorders that affect your body's ability to produce porphyrins, which play a role in your body's production of hemoglobin. Although porphyria is usually inherited, sometimes environmental factors could trigger symptoms, so purple pee is not one you should ignore.

Yellow

If your pee is yellow, congrats! You're normal. But you still need to be paying close attention to the shade of yellow your pee is. If your urine is amber colored, you are definitely dehydrated and need to drink more water. If your pee is a prominent yellow, you still need to drink more water. If it's clear, you might actually be drinking too much water, or you might have consumed alcohol, which makes more water appear in your urine.

So, what's the ideal urine color you should be shooting for? Aim for a pale, transparent yellow. That means you're healthy and hydrated.

For more detailed scientific explanations, and to find out what other urine colors mean (like green and brown, yes those can really happen), watch ASAPScience's full video, below.