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 Urine is one of the by-products of the body’s filtration systems. Urine helps expel different harmful chemicals out of the body. Urine is normally straw-coloured. If urine changes color and stays unchanged for a while, it usually means a serious health issue. Urine could also change color based on foods you eat but that change is usually temporary.

Causes

Darker than usual urine, indicates that you are dehydrated. Dehydration is the most common reason for a change in urine color. The kidney produces less (and concentrated) urine due to less water in the body. Increasing your water content should help your urine to its normal color in a few hours. If that does not happen then you should get it checked out.

Persistent dark urine is usually a sign that something is wrong with the functioning of the liver or the kidneys. Injuries to these organs can cause dark colored urine. Infections of the urinary tract or any kidney infections can cause urine to change color. Conditions like hepatitis, nephritis, endocarditis, prostrate cancer, renal cell carcinoma or any urological condition can also lead to change in the urine color. Occasionally blood in the urine can also lead to dark colored urine.

There are also many medications that cause a change in urine color. Anti malarial drugs like chloroquinine, antibiotics like metronidazole and nitrofurantonin, or even laxatives that contain cascara or senna can cause change in the color of the urine.

Symptoms

Dark brown urine can also be accompanied with other symptoms like back pain, constipation, stomach pain, constipation or fatigue. These symptoms can be remedied by drinking water and increasing your quantity of roughage. Eating more fruits and vegetables usually helps improve kidney and liver health.  But this is a short term cure and won’t solve anything if the problem is a major one. Back pain and dark urine also occur together when a woman is pregnant. She might also face constipation as a result of this condition.

The reasons for dark or brown colored urine can be many but most of the causes can be easily remedied. You need to worry if you have tried to rectify your behavior and your urine has not returning to its original color.

If your urine is dark in color and is accompanied with pale stools and yellow skin, you need to seek medical attention at the earliest. These symptoms could mean that your liver is not working. The liver helps digest fat in the body.

Reference:

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003139.htm
• http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/003139.htm
  

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.

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