Urine may indicate the inner working of body. Examining the look and smell of urine may give you some hint on what is happening inside your body. It can function as a warning system for health problems you might be having. When you have urine that smells like coffee, you begin to wonder what might be causing that to happen.
The clarity, color, and some other physical characteristics of urine could may give clues on issues affecting the body such as infections, exposure to toxins, disease like diabetes, and excessive fluid intake. Urine can have an off-odor characteristic if a person consumes foods such as asparagus or beverages like coffee. Consequences of health problems may also bring such off-odor situations for instance, when an individual has urinary tract infection.
Normal urine
Normal urine takes the form of clear and pale yellow appearance. The color is from a pigment known as urochrome. Dehydration may occur when you drink too little or you sweat too much. People with bouts of diarrhea and vomiting may also experience dehydration, and these can affect the look of urine.
You will most likely have dark urine if you are dehydrated. This is because, there are many substances in urine but in small volume of fluid. The dark color of urine may be signaling to you that you need more fluid intake especially water. When the urine is too dark due to dehydration, it will also tend to have a strong ammonia smell.
When you have dark colored urine for extended period, it may be a sign of a disease like liver or hepatitis. Having dark colored urine may be different from having urine that smells like coffee. Many foods and some medications can result in unusual appearance of urine often triggering suspicions. For example, taking beets can make the urine color to look like blood. This can be scaring.
Urine that smells like coffee
A common reason why you have urine smelling like coffee is because you have taken too much of coffee and some other beverage. When you have coffee and it is concentrated, it may result in that smell. Similarly, when you have coffee and you are dehydrated, then you might experience the coffee smell in urine.
Products like tea, coffee, and soda have caffeine, and this is released in urine. It is the caffeine in body that you smell it in urine at time of excretion. Have you ever asked yourself, why don’t you smell orange juice in urine when you take it. This is because orange for example, does not contain substances like caffeine which are excreted in urine.
Caffeine is not readily digested by the body. Therefore, when it is taken, it is released through urine. In case you have take a lot of coffee, it means the kidneys will release a large amount of caffeine. You may smell coffee in urine when such large amounts of caffeine are being released.
Another reason you may be encountering the coffee smell is because you are dehydrated. When you drink less water, the urine will have more concentration of substances, and if there is caffeine in it, the concentration will also be high and therefore, the smell of coffee. You would want to make sure you check on the amount of tea, soda, or coffee you are taking. All these products have caffeine in them and they will release coffee-like smell if the concentration in urine is high.
How to remedy a situation where urine smells like coffee
When you find that your urine is smelling like coffee, first you want to make sure you are not dehydrated. When you have insufficient water in body system, even small amounts of caffeine-containing substances like soda, tea, and coffee could result in coffee-like smell. Therefore, take more water so that you have lighter concentration of urine.
Secondly, you need to check on the amount of coffee, soda, and tea you are taking. Taking too much will result in coffee smell. Therefore, limit the intake of these substances. Remember that too much of everything could be dangerous. Caffeine can be addictive and when you continue having those high doses, then the body may become tolerant and begin to need more.
Water in body helps to flush out substances and toxins. And when the content of water is more, it also lowers the concentration level of substances like caffeine in urine. Therefore, there will be less smell produced if you have sufficient amount of water in body.
The changes you notice in urine including color and smell need to be checked properly. They may be an indication of early signs of a disease. The changes in urine will mostly be due to things you have taken but it can be as a result of something complex like a urinary tract infection.
