Beets affect the color of urine, can there be pink urine, why. The influence of natural dyes on the color of urine

The use of certain foods affects the color of the stool, for example, urine after beets is red, and feces may have pink impurities. Is this a sign of a disease or not? Should I see a doctor with these symptoms?

Beets are a healthy vegetable

Beetroot is a product that is recommended for people over the age of 1 year. It is a vegetable rich in vitamins, its use helps to improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Boiled beets act as a mild laxative and can replace medications. It is consumed raw and boiled, and they also make delicious juices.

After eating beets, urine turns pink or red. This happens 60% of the time. This is due to the presence of betacyanins in the vegetable. They are responsible for the rich color of the root crop.

The more betanine in the product, the brighter the beets, and the higher the chance that the urine will be reddish.

The amount of betanine in each beet variety is different. Variety "Cylinder" contains up to 45 mg / 100 g, which means the color is not too bright. But the Shar variety is 195 mg of betanine per 100 g of the product. And passing through the gastrointestinal tract, this compound is not always completely decomposed, and part is excreted from the body along with urine.

Betanin is a red, pink or brownish pigment. It is even used in industry, and it has the name E162. This is a food coloring that is safe for humans and practical to use.

How urine is stained with beets

The color of urine from beets does not change every time. It depends on many factors:

• Varieties of beets and how to store them. If the vegetable has been lying in the sun for a long time, the amount of betanine in the composition becomes less.
• From the method of preparation. When cooking, part of the pigment goes into water, while baking or steaming, all components remain inside the vegetable.
• From the acidity of the stomach. The higher the acidity, the richer the color of urine after eating beets.

Scientists have found that if you eat beets on an empty stomach, the color of urine will not change. At this time, the stomach is in a neutral environment, where betanin is easily decomposed. And if you use beets with acidic foods, the staining will be very intense. For example, after vinaigrette, you should expect changes in the color of urine.

How many days is urine red or pink? This is a very individual indicator, usually up to 2 days the color can be preserved. The larger the volume of liquid that comes out, the less saturated the color. If you drink more water, you can change the intensity of staining.

The opinion of doctors about changing the color of urine

Doctors believe that pink urine after eating beets is normal. It is worth fearing if red urine appears when there were no bright vegetables in the diet. But even carrots can give an unusual color. Therefore, it is important to observe the features of the discharge for 3-4 days in order to understand the cause of the phenomenon.

An unnatural color of urine can be a sign of illness. But then other symptoms must be present:

• painful urination,
• heaviness in the lower abdomen, unpleasant burning sensation,
• intense foul-smelling urine
• private urge to empty the bladder,
• chills, fever,
• frequent weakness, drowsiness.

Diseases that change the color of urine

Colored urine can be a sign of dozens of illnesses. Diseases of the kidneys, bladder, heavy metal poisoning, blood clotting disorders appear as a change in the color of the discharge. In this case, urine must be submitted for analysis in order to exclude all these diagnoses.

Why is urine brown? It is this color that is obtained when blood enters it. And this is a sign of injury, inflammation or infection. To find out the reason, you will have to consult a specialist. First you need to contact a therapist, and he will already give a referral to another professional.

Can urine be pink or red for other reasons? Yes, some medications have this side effect. The instructions for the drugs should describe such signs. In this case, it is not dangerous, but also requires consultation.

When should you see a doctor if your urine is red?

Beetroot juice, coloring urine, does no harm. This vegetable can be eaten by both children and adults without fear for health. But if at the same time the bladder hurts, the discharge becomes cloudy, and their number changes - you need to go to the doctor.

If you eat a lot of beets, then the urine will be red for more than one day. But there shouldn't be any pain. Cutting, tingling in the abdomen is a sign of illness.

There is an opinion that the coloring pigment is not absorbed by the body in those who suffer from dysbacteriosis or iron deficiency. Can this be checked somehow? Only passing a complete examination, for which you will have to take a blood test, feces and urine. This can be corrected by changing the diet, but eating other foods without an accurate diagnosis is not the best solution.

You need to go to the doctor for any discomfort. How long does it take to endure pain? Not a single day. Reddened stools or urine is a reason to examine the body. But you should not panic in advance, some food component can color the discharge, and as soon as you stop eating it, the problem will disappear.

Beets turn urine pink. This sign does not indicate a disease, only additional symptoms can confirm the presence of a problem. And to establish an accurate diagnosis, it is worth undergoing an examination.

By the state of urine, one can often judge the general state of human health. That is why, during various preventive examinations, doctors prescribe a general urine test to patients, and if some diseases are suspected, more specific tests are prescribed, such as, for example, a urine test for sugar or bacteriological urine culture.

Physical properties of urine

According to the physical state, urine is characterized by quantity, transparency, density, color and smell:

• Quantity

Daily urine output by a healthy person averages 1.5 liters. A significant decrease or increase in daily diuresis is the cause of disturbances in the normal functioning of the body. The absence of urine, or its amount is not more than 50 ml per day, is a serious threat, as it is a symptom of a number of diseases that require immediate treatment.

• Transparency

A distinctive characteristic of the urine of a healthy person is its transparency. Insufficient fluid intake causes temporary cloudiness of the urine and is not a sign of any disease. As a rule, after taking the necessary fluid for the body, the urine becomes transparent. Muddy and frothy appearance of the urine is given by the protein, crystalline substances and pus in it, this is a symptom of various diseases.

• Density

The presence in it, as well as substances that enter the urine due to intravenous infusion, leads to an increase in the density of urine. Renal and acute damage to the renal tubules are the cause of a decrease in the density of urine.

The normal color of a healthy person's urine ranges from clear white to straw yellow. Urine tends to change color depending on the time of day, the amount of liquid consumed, and also on the composition of the food. So, for example, morning urine is always darker than urine during the day, which is always lighter in color.

• Smell

Normally, urine has a specific mild odor. Various diseases can change its smell. For example, in diabetes, urine smells like rotting apples.

Reasons for changing the color of urine

The color of urine can be affected by drugs used for various diseases, the presence of diseases and products containing dyes:

• Brown-red color. Due to the admixture of blood in the urine with glomerulonephritis, kidney stones, and tumors.
• Pink and reddish color. The reason for this color may be food with red pigments - blueberries, blackberries, red peppers, beets, pastries with rhubarb.
• Yellow-green color. It is observed with a significant content of pus in the urine and while taking anti-inflammatory drugs and antidepressants. The reason for the green color of urine may be an increase in bilirubin, which is a signal of liver and pancreas disease. The greenish color of urine comes from eating asparagus and spinach.
• White color. It is associated with a large amount of phosphates and calcium phosphate salts in the urine, which indicates a violation of calcium-phosphorus metabolism. In the presence of pus in the urine, its color may take on a grayish tint.
• Bright orange color. It happens when taking medications that thin the blood, as well as when consuming a large amount of beta-carotene contained in carrots.

Red coloration of urine after eating beets

Many people are frightened when they see red urine after taking beets. But is there really cause for concern? There is no single answer to this question, and even experts have different opinions on this issue.

Some of them believe that red urine after eating beets is quite normal. Others say that in a healthy person, urine after beets does not change color, and red color indicates the presence of dysbacteriosis. There is also an opinion that the red color of urine after taking beets means that a person has problems with the kidneys. Another theory claims that urine staining after eating beets is one of the signs of iron deficiency anemia.

How to determine the cause of red urine

Remove all doubts from what the urine turned red (from the presence of blood in it or from beets) can be a simple and very quick way. A small amount of baking soda should be poured into the urine, and then table vinegar should be added. If the color from the soda has disappeared and reappeared after the addition of vinegar, then the cause of the red color of the urine is the beets eaten, and not the blood.

Attention should also be paid to the fact that urine, reddened from taking beets, is transparent, and has a cloudy appearance due to the presence of blood.

In order to determine whether there are actually diseases such as dysbacteriosis, iron deficiency anemia, or kidney problems, the symptoms of which may be redness of the urine after taking beets, you should consult a doctor. The necessary tests and diagnostics will help determine the cause of the change in urine color.

Since red urine after beets is not uncommon, many are wondering how bad it is. In fact, if you eat beets and your urine turns red, this is a completely normal and natural phenomenon for children and adults, the appearance of which is due to the pigments that the product contains. In a situation where the red or pink color does not change to normal for a long time, the patient may have a hidden pathology. Eating the root vegetable can only change the color of the discharge once.

Can beetroot stain urine?

Why does staining occur?

Beets contain pigments (dyes) that give urine a pink or reddish color. These pigments are called betacyanins. It is their influence that explains the fact that the use of beets provokes the appearance of pink, brownish or red urine. Urine pink after beets becomes only 10-14% of the population. The problem arises when the root crop is consumed excessively. When using beetroot dishes - vinaigrette, saturated beetroot and borscht, a change in the color of the discharge is possible. There is an opinion among doctors that a change in the color of urine after beet products is inherent in patients with dysbacteriosis.

When a person has eaten a root vegetable, and pink urine appears, its other characteristics should remain unchanged. Signs of normal discharge are:

• transparency;
• odor invariance;
• lack of additional symptoms: fever, lumbar pain, discomfort during urination;
• reddish coloration is observed no more than 2 days from the moment the root crop is eaten;
• unchanged volume: the norm is approximately 1.5 liters.

What else affects urinary color?

Blueberries also have a coloring property for urine.

If red urine is observed after eating beets, then a change in color can occur after eating other foods. If the color of the discharge turns red after eating, this indicates that the person has eaten the following foods:

• rhubarb: baking with this product also colors urine;
• blueberry;
• a large amount of red pepper;
• blackberry.

This food also contains pigments that can color physiological secretions. Therefore, if the patient ate these vegetables and fruits, then it is quite possible for him to change the urinary color. In women, one of the natural causes of changes in urinary color is menstruation. Urine may turn red or pink after taking medicines based on the following substances:

• acetylsalicylic acid ("Aspirin");
• phenolphthalein;
• amidopyrine;
• sulfazol;
• phenyl salicylate;
• naphthol;
• rifampicin.

Red color as a signal of pathology

A child and an adult may have red urine from beets or for other physiological reasons. But along with this, often the discharge can change color when diagnosing the pathology of the genitourinary system. In such a situation, the urinary color does not change to normal over time for quite a long time: from several days to weeks or even months.

The pathological reasons why red urine appears are as follows:

With erosion of the cervix, urine may acquire a red tint.

• Glomerulonephritis.
• Gynecological pathologies in women:
  • erosion;
  • cancerous diseases;
  • complication of fibromyoma;
  • endometriosis;
  • ectopic pregnancy;
  • uterine bleeding.
• Hemolytic anemia.
• Kidney infarction.
• Urolithiasis disease.
• Malignant diseases of the kidneys.
• Porphyria is a genetic disorder in the formation of the hemoglobin protein in the blood.
• Hypersplenism is a pathology of the spleen.
• Pathologies in men:
  • adenoma;
  • prostatitis;
  • cancerous pathologies of the prostate.

Once we already wrote that in the normal state, urine is yellow. However, in some cases, its shade may change - for example, after beets, it turns pinkish or red. Is this normal?

Staining usually occurs not after eating the beet itself, but its juice, which is very beneficial for the body. However, immediately after squeezing it can not be drunk. The fact is that it contains special volatile substances that can seriously harm the body, so you can drink such juice no earlier than a few hours after squeezing.

In some people, however, urine can be stained even after eating a banal vinaigrette. Should it be? There are two opinions on this. According to the first of them, a pink or red hue of the waste product indicates that the person is not all right with the kidneys or intestinal microflora, so in this case it is better to consult a specialist.

But the doctors themselves do not even know what to answer. They say that the coloration of the urine indicates a disturbance in the filtering apparatus of the kidneys. However, in 99% of cases, the patient does not have any complaints related to these organs. Although some patients claim that after treatment, the color of the liquid returns to normal. That is, the best option in this case is to get rid of all kidney infections and observe, with the disappearance of which of them, the urine acquires its usual shade.

Post comments: Why does urine turn red after eating beets?

Looking for what to drink beetroot juice. If for the treatment of bones, teeth, nails, hair, then you just need to drink freshly squeezed ONLY. Freshly squeezed beetroot juice contains ferrous iron, but if it stands for a while, many useful things disappear from it, including prana, which is present only in freshly prepared foods. And in general, for all juices. In the first half of the day you need to drink freshly squeezed, they are alkaline, in the second - they have stood for half an hour, they are sour)) These are the features of the body. Although, if we talk about a modern person, it is more relevant to always drink freshly squeezed ones in order to balance the oxidizing properties of ordinary food familiar to everyone))

If you ate beets or a salad containing them, then red-colored urine is the norm! You don't need to shake people's heads...

He ate raw grated beets and a day later the urine was slightly pink, as if there were a couple of crumbs of potassium permanganate in it. I'm not a doctor, but I thought it was normal.

The common man writes:

In the afternoon I ate beetroot salad for lunch. in the evening I went to the toilet and reddish urine came out ... I was in shock. really scared! I read well that this is the norm ... ufff

Since childhood, I loved beets, and hawked them in kilograms, and I know for sure that if you eat enough, urine always becomes darker with a red tint.
PS: everything is OK with the kidneys (at least then it was so).

Who doubts, you can check for yourself, boil and wrap a salad of at least one medium beetroot 200-300 gr. Only mind no beer and drinks without thirst.

When a person's diet changes, the composition of his urine (urine) changes. It can become red and even dark. It is believed that beets can affect the color of the biological fluid. This vegetable contains a bright dye that remains on the skin and utensils during cooking. Once in the body, it is able to change the shade of stool. This effect is often confused with the manifestation of serious health problems, mistaking beets for blood.

Is urine red from beets

The fluid that a person consumes during the day affects the amount of urine. The color of excrement can change foods such as vegetables, fruits, juices. Beetroot has the greatest coloring effect. As a food product, it cannot harm the body. But red urine after beets should alert. The normal color of urine is light yellow without impurities. In a child, it can also be white, transparent, since the baby feeds on breast milk for up to a year.

If there was no beetroot in the diet for a long time, urine after eating it may turn red or pink.

Urine of this color after a vegetable is not a reason to worry.

Reasons for changing the color of urine from a vegetable

Beets contain a large amount of vitamins and nutrients. The composition of the vegetable contains substances that can slow down oxidation and have an anti-inflammatory effect. It also contains vitamins B and C. Fresh beetroot juice can increase endurance, vitality, so you should not exclude the vegetable from the diet.

With urine, waste products are removed from the body, which are filtered in the kidneys, due to which, when using the product, it receives a specific color.

The red, pink, or dark brown hue is possible due to the flavonoids and phytochemical carotenoids found in beets.

In people in whose stomach there is an acid that can neutralize the effect of a vegetable, staining does not occur. The most important element of gastric juice is hydrochloric acid, which does not allow changing the color of urine and feces.

Why the red tint

The vegetable contains betacyanin, which includes betanin, which plays the role of a dye. In cooking, it is food coloring (E 162).

The betanin component colors urine in the following colors:

• Orange;
• pink;
• red;
• red-brown.

The shade of urine depends on the acidity of the stomach, the time of intake and processing of food, the presence of oxalic acid. The latter acts as a protective agent of the body.

Hue varies from 0 to 90% prevalence. Color changes depending on the amount of water and vegetable can last up to 2 days.

In this case, the shade of urine is not dangerous. But it can indicate health problems. To exclude the disease, you need to contact a specialist and take tests.

Color sometimes indicates iron deficiency in the body. Its symptoms:

1. 1. Paleness of the skin.
2. 2. Feeling tired.
3. 3. Difficulties in concentrating.

Warning Signals

If the urine is red and without the use of beets, then red blood cells have increased in the blood, indicating the following diseases:

• mercury or lead poisoning;
• kidney problems;
• infections of the urinary system;
• urolithiasis disease.

100 ml of urine should contain up to 1000 red blood cells. Their increase is the reason for the examination.

Self-determination of the causes of changes in the color of urine

To exclude the influence of beets on the color of urine, it is enough to resort to a simple home method of checking. It is as follows:

• collect urine in a jar;
• add baking soda to it and stir;
• add vinegar.

The red tint should disappear and reappear after a while. In this case, the reason is beets. But it is better to understand the health problems of a doctor.