Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffIt's usually not necessary to prevent changes in urine color caused by vitamin supplements, medications or foods. And preventing the illnesses that can discolor urine often isn't possible, though you can take certain steps to reduce your risk.
Urinary tract infections
These measures may reduce your risk of urinary tract infections:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Urinate when you feel the urge and as soon as possible after intercourse.
- Wipe from front to back after urination.
- Avoid heavily scented feminine hygiene products.
Kidney stones
To help lower your likelihood of kidney stones:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Limit salt, protein and certain foods, such as spinach and rhubarb.
Bladder or kidney cancer
To reduce your risk of these cancers:
- Stop smoking.
- Avoid exposure to toxic chemicals.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Maintain a healthy weight, eat a healthy diet and stay active.
- Foot CL, et al. Uroscopic rainbow: Modern matula medicine. Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2006;82:126.
- Liao JC, et al. Pediatric urine testing. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 2001;48:1425.
- Gerber GS, et al. Evaluation of the urologic patient: History, physical examination, and urinalysis. Wein AJ, et al. Campbell-Walsh Urology. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/151836479-3/0/1445/6.html?tocnode=54299533&fromURL=6.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0798-6..50005-4_96. Accessed July 28, 2009.
- Post TW, et al. Urinalysis in the diagnosis of renal disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- Rose BD, et al. Evaluation of hematuria in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
- Yun EJ, et al. Evaluation of the patient with hematuria. The Medical Clinics of North America. 2004;88:329.
- Mercieri A. Exercise-induced hematuria. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2009.
- Terris MK. The significance of abnormal urine color. Stanford School of Medicine. http://urology.stanford.edu/about/articles/abnormal_urine.html. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
