• Question: Why does urine change color depending on how much you drink?

    Asked by kamilo12 to David, Jonathan, Ou, Pete, Sam on 28 May 2012.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 28 May 2012:

      It’s basically due to the amount of water you’ve drunk. If you’re not very well hydrated (i.e. you’re not drinking enough water), then your urine will contain a greater concentration of other waste products (such as urea), which will make it darker. If you drink a lot of water, then the excess that your body doesn’t need at that point gets passed as urine, and will dilute whatever else is in there.

      It’s kind of like making a glass of orange squash – if you put lots of squash and not much water in a glass, it’ll be a really dark orange. If you put lots of water and not much squash in, it’ll be almost clear!

    • Photo: Jonathan Robinson

      Jonathan Robinson answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      Petes quite right in his answer! But it can also change depending on what you eat! Vit B can make it very yellow indeed if you have too much! And beetroot can make it go pinkish in large amounts.

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