What are the Causes of Dark Brown Urine & Home Remedies for Treatment

After getting up in the morning, you may be surprised to find change in your urine color. Normally urine color is pale yellow to dark yellow; it depends on the pigment urochrome present in your urine. If your urine is diluted the color will be light, if it is concentrated the color turns dark yellow.

However, pigments and dyes present in foods and beverage can change the color of your urine. If you have consumed excess of beet the last night in your salad, your urine color might change to dark yellow or at times dark brown. Taking prescription drugs can be a reason for change in urine. In absence of the above two factors, dark brown urine may be a cause of worry as it can be due to a serious health ailment.

When the color of urine remains dark brown persistently, it needs to be diagnosed; the reason may be harmless or at time life threatening. Let us find out what are the conditions where the urine color turns dark brown.

Eating foods and beverages that contain certain dyes can precipitate a change in your urine color. Make sure you have not consumed beets, fava beans, blackberries, black licorice or any other food that excretes its dye through urine.

Bleeding from urinary tract; it can be from the kidney, bladder, ureter. The most common cause is kidney stone or ureteric stone.

Liver diseases, hepatitis A, B and cirrhosis of liver can give rise to dark brown urine. Due to liver cell damage in these two diseases, there is excess of bilirubin in the system due to which your urine turn brown in color.

Hemolytic Anemia: it results due to increased red cell destruction. The condition may be congenital or acquired. Hemolytic anemia occur due to drugs and chemicals, animal venoms, infections such as malaria, cardiac diseases etc. Red cells excreted from the urine turn the color of urine from light yellow to dark brown.

Dehydration: it concentrates the urine and the color changes to dark yellow or dark brown depending on the degree of dehydration. Correcting dehydration by supplementing fluid and water brings back the original pale yellow color of the urine after few hours.

Acute Porphyria: it is rare hereditary or metabolic acquired disorder that gives rise to abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, tiredness and dark brown urine.

Rhabdomyolysis: there is breakdown of muscle fibers that result into release of myoglobin the blood. It can occur as a result of crush injuries, heat stroke, and severe physical exertion or after taking statins etc.

Kidney Cancer: renal cell carcinoma can cause dark brown urine. Together with it, there may be other symptoms such as pain in the kidney area or the abdomen, loss of weight, decreased appetite and fever.

Bladder and kidney infection causes the urine to turn cloudy. Associated symptoms include burning urine, fever and chills.

Medicines that have certain dyes can also change your urine color to dark brown.

Home Remedies on How to Treat Dark Brown Urine

Discoloration of urine has no specific treatment, as it is a sign of an underlying cause, it may be a harmless one or of serious origin. Whatever it may be, at the first instance find out whether it is not a side effect of the recently ingested medicine or food. If that is the reason eliminating the food or changing the medicine after discussing it with your doctor can bring about normal color of urine.

Drinking plenty of water helps to keep your urine diluted and thus your color of urine become light from dark brown.

When dark brown and cloudy urine is due to urinary tract infection, drink a glass of water with 2 tsp of baking soda dissolved in it.

Drinking cranberry juice is the best home remedy for bladder infection. It is beneficial for both, men as well as women.

If the color of urine remains persistently dark brown, it is necessary to consult your physician so as to find the right diagnosis.