On a day-to-day basis, the body sends signals regarding its state of health, although some are more recognizable because they cause pain or discomfort, while others are usually more subtle and produce small changes, such as the color of urine or spots on the skin; all these are symptoms that warn of deficiencies in the development of the body.
The color of urine is an indicator of both the level of hydration that the body is having, the food that was consumed, as well as more serious diseases such as liver complications, tumors, kidney problems, among others.
According to the American organization Mayo Clinic, a dark color in the urine, such as brown, might mean that the person you are eating a high amount of fava beans, aloe, or rhubarb; these foods might cause the liquid that is discarded to be the color mentioned, without this presenting a direct threat to the person’s health.
However, it can also be due to muscle injuries caused by extreme exercise, according to the organization, which can also cause damage to the kidneys and cause the discharged urine to turn brown or pinkish in color.
Meanwhile, it was also stressed that frequently problems in the kidneys and liver are what cause the brown or dark color in the urine; urinary infections would also have the same effect.
Although some medications, such as “antimalarials chloroquine and primaquine, the antibiotics metronidazole (Flagyl) and nitrofurantoin (Furadantin), laxatives containing cascara sagrada or senna, and the muscle relaxant methocarbamol,” also produce the same appearance in the liquid, according to Mayo Clinic.
So then, cirrhosis and hepatitis are some of the liver damage that develop dark urine. For its part, Liver cirrhosis is a chronic disease that, according to the Clinic of the University of Navarra in Spain, progressively causes the affected organ to lose its ability to function.
The clinic states that in Spain 80% of cirrhosis cases are due to two main causes; the first, due to excessive alcohol consumption; and the second, due to infection due to chronic hepatitis C virus. This disease can also cause blood through urine.
Hepatitis is a condition that causes swelling and damage to the liver, which can often be caused by a virus.
“Hepatitis can be an acute (short-term) infection or a chronic (long-term) infection. Some types of hepatitis only cause acute infections. Others can cause both acute and chronic infections”, explained the portal of the United States National Library of Medicine, Medline Plus.
In addition to the dark color in the urine due to this disease, other symptoms that occur are the color similar to clay in the stool, fever, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal and joint pain, yellowing of the skin and eyes, as well as fatigue.
“The risks are different for different types of hepatitis. For example, with most viral types, your risk is higher if you have unprotected sex. People who drink heavily for long periods of time are at risk of contracting alcoholic hepatitis.”explained the American portal, with reference to the causes that can unleash this condition in the liver.
