Why is Urine Yellow
Urine is a liquid excreted by humans and animals. But why is urine yellow? This post will answer that question and then tell you a few interesting facts about urine.
Why is Urine Yellow?
Urine is yellow due to the presence of urobilin (a chemical compound that used to be called urochrome). When hemoglobin breaks down it forms bilirubin. Bilirubin then breaks down to urobilin before being excreted from the body in urine.
Interesting Facts About Urine
- Strong urine odor can be caused by alcohol, curry, asparagus, coffee, turkey and onions.
- Dark yellow urine usually indicates that a person is dehydrated.
- As urine is 95% water, its pH is close to neutral (7). However, it can vary between 6.5 and 7.4 in healthy individuals.
- A normal adult human produces 1-2 liters of urine per day.
- People who take vitamin supplements (especially vitamin B supplements) may have fluorescent yellow or green urine.
- Hundreds of years ago, people thought that the yellow color of urine was due to the presence of gold. This led to many people trying to ‘extract’ gold from urine. Sounds messy!
- Diluted in water (about 8 parts water, 1 part urine), urine makes an excellent fertilizer.
- Light yellow urine is a good sign that you are well hydrated.
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Other Health Questions:
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Thanks to the blog ‘Science in Action‘ for some of the info in this post!