What can urine analysis reveal?
When you go to the toilet and pee, urine leaves your body. That is very important for various bodily functions. It regulates the balance of water in the body, for example, and also gets rid of substances that are produced during metabolic processes and are no longer needed. These include toxic substances in foods or medicines. Urine tests can help to detect diseases of the urinary system as well as metabolic diseases like diabetes or liver disease.
The color, odor (smell) and amount of urine can already indicate whether something is wrong. If, for instance, someone passes only a little very dark urine, it could be a sign that they haven’t had enough to drink – or that their kidneys are no longer working properly. Cloudy urine could be a sign of a urinary tract infection (UTI) like cystitis. If the urine is reddish in color, there might be blood in it. To find out more, the urine needs to be tested using a test strip or in a lab.
Five standard urine tests can be used to examine the different components of urine. Two of them can also be done at home, whereas the other three can only be done in a lab.