foaming urine?

These seven warning signs in the urine should make you suspicious

Created: 08/01/2022 10:52 am

By: Juliane Gutmann, Jasmine Farah

Whether red, frothy or with a sweet smell: Hardly anyone thinks about their urine.

But this can be an important indication that something is wrong.

Did you know that urine reveals more about your body and its state of health than you thought?

That the color or consistency can tell you if you need medical attention?

If not, here's what to look out for and what it means if your urine is cloudy, smells funny, or looks unusual.

What the change in urine says about your own health

Basically, everyone excretes around one to one and a half liters of urine every day.

This consists of 95 percent water.

The rest is made up of urea, uric acid, electrolytes, vitamins, hormones, dyes and other metabolic products.

Many of these substances cannot be properly utilized or are even harmful and are excreted in the urine.

But what does healthy urine look like?

Doctors advise that it would be best if it were clear and light yellow.

The amount you drink also determines the color of your urine.

The more you drink, the thinner and lighter the urine.

However, if you have dark urine over the long term, it is better to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Are you one of the “shower urinators”?: Keep it up!

Read here why you should now urinate more frequently in the shower.

If the urine foams, you had better consult a doctor.

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Color, consistency or smell of the urine: How to correctly interpret alarm signals 

• Orange to brown color

  : This can be a sign that they have been drinking too little.

  But if this should not be the case, a disease of the liver or the bile ducts would also be possible.

  Then the reason could be an increased excretion of the bile pigment bilirubin, which colors the urine so dark.

  But even those who have to take the antibiotic nitrofurantoin to treat urinary tract infections may have an orange to brown discoloration in their urine.

• Brown to black color

  : If your urine suddenly turns brown to black, you should keep calm for now.

  This often occurs when taking medication with the active ingredients L-Dopa or alpha-methyldopa.

  In rare cases, it can also be due to the fact that one is suffering from the metabolic disease alkaptonuria or a certain form of skin cancer.

• Intense yellow colouration

  : This often happens with bladder infections or kidney problems, despite drinking enough.

• Red urine

  : This is often blood in the urine.

  But even after muscle damage - for example after an accident or extreme training - the muscle protein myoglobin can turn the urine red.

  Other possible causes would be:

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• Metabolic disease porphyria

• taking the antibiotic rifampicin

• Eating large amounts of beetroot or blackberries

• Cloudy urine

  : If the urine flakes when you urinate, you'd better consult a doctor immediately.

  Then there is probably a urinary tract infection behind it.

  Bacteria, fungal pathogens or the like are then in the urine and cloud it.

  Sometimes it also indicates that an STD is present.

• Sweet smell

  : This is when too much sugar is excreted in the urine - which occurs in diabetics.

  In addition, there are so-called ketone bodies in the urine, which are responsible for the sweetish-fruity smell.

  If this is the case for you, it is also advisable to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Kidneys are so important: you should know that

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Foamy urine: Stress and menopause can be behind it

• Foamy urine

  : If urine is foamy, it may be because there is too much protein in the urine.

  In many cases, this is harmless: especially in young people, the cause can be too much stress or exercise.

  In the worst case, however, it is a sign that a kidney is no longer working properly.

  But what does foamy urine actually look like?

  When this happens, white bubbles form on the surface of the urine, similar to the foam that forms in a glass when you pour fizzy drinks.

  Possible reasons for foam in the urine are:

• kidney tumors

• diabetes

• high blood pressure

• menopause

Foamy urine during menopause: A phenomenon that many women notice in themselves.

Researchers suspect the reason for this to be hormonal changes.

Estrogen is said to have a protective function for the kidneys, as the online medical practice Zava informs.

During menopause, the female body reduces the production of estrogen and progesterone, which can have a negative effect on the kidneys, it has been suggested.

Foamy urine, on the other hand, can indicate a diseased kidney.

As the Zava report goes on to show, menopausal women have more albumin in their urine than hormonal imbalances.

Albumin is a protein that indicates a kidney function disorder.