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Does the red color of urine after eating beetroot mean illness? Is this a worrying symptom? Does red beet urine mean intestinal problems? Why does urine appear red only in some people? The question is answered by the drug. Katarzyna Darecka.
Does the red color of urine after beetroot mean disease?
Hello and welcome. I have a question that may seem funny but has been bothering me for a long time. Whether red urine after beetroot is it a symptom of a disease? I often drink beetroot juice and eat it in the form of salad with other meals because I like the taste very much. If I eat a lot of them, I have red beet urine. Up to a point I didn’t worry too much about it, but recently I found out that red beet urine is a symptom of intestinal problems.
It surprised me a bit, because I don’t have one gastric problemsI’ve never had a digestive problem or anything like that, red urine after beets however, it appears with me quite often. Is beetroot urine really strange and can it be a symptom of a disease? I talked to my friend and she has never had beet red urine, so maybe it is because of some kind of my illness? And if red urine after beetroot is not the result bowel problems what does it result from? And why does it show up at my place, and other people don’t have it at all red urine after eating beetroot?
The doctor explains whether red beet urine is cause for concern
Red-pinkish urine and beetroot stool is not a symptom of the disease, occurs naturally in 10-14 percent of society, but the probability of occurrence more often concerns people with iron deficiency in the body (45%). The difference in color varies depending on the person and the type of beet eaten. Dark red urine and stools may be the result of eating a raw beetroot, while a lighter red or pink color may be caused by eating a cooked or baked beetroot.
You may get scared at first, no wonder – our stools are rarely red in color. However, the reddish-pink color of your urine or stool after eating beetroot is normal and completely harmless. The cause of the change in the color of our body fluids is the dye contained in beets – betanin. After we digest the eaten beetroot, betanin penetrates the gastric mucosa into the bloodstream, from where it goes to the kidneys. Here, along with other metabolic products, it is excreted from the body along with urine, causing its pink-red color.
Despite the fact that it is harmless, the so-called «Beeturia» may be a symptom iron deficiency in the bodytherefore, if it occurs, go to your family doctor and get the proper diagnosis. In anemia due to iron deficiency, our digestive tract tries to get more of this element from the digestive tract, which also increases the absorption of betacyanins, including betanin.
The influence of the red tinge of body fluids has been the subject of many studies, none has confirmed that this phenomenon is dangerous – on the contrary, it is mild and harmless. However, it is always worth mentioning it to your doctor – be it in terms of a possible iron deficiency or in terms of differential diagnosis. We may think that the urine is red as a result of beetroot consumption, but in fact it may be hematuria – the doctor should exclude such diseases as nephrolithiasis, kidney cancer, renal cystic disease, inflammation of the urinary system, vascular and venous malformations, kidney failure. or porphyria.
– Lek. Katarzyna Darecka
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