If you generally eat well-balanced meals, you probably get adequate vitamins and minerals from your diet. But if you rarely sit down to a meal that includes all food groups, you may need vitamin supplements. Water-soluble supplements, including vitamin C and most B vitamins, flush out in your urine after your body takes what it needs. Their presence in your urine can make noticeable changes.
Vitamin Content
When you take a water-soluble supplement, it enters your bloodstream, and your blood delivers it to your cells. If there's any left over, the surplus goes to your kidneys for disposal. If there is no vitamin content in your urine, you have a vitamin deficiency and your body used every drop of the supplement you gave it. In healthy individuals who get adequate nutrition, urine almost always contains some remnants of water-soluble vitamins taken as supplements.
Kidney Stones
Scientists at the Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo in Brazil reported in the 2003 "Kidney International" that supplements of vitamin C appear to increase levels of calcium oxalate in the urine. Calcium oxalate contributes to kidney stones. A subsequent report by Orthomolecular.org in 2005 indicated these increased levels of oxalate don't necessarily mean an individual will develop kidney stones, unless his biochemistry is already predisposed to forming them. Vitamin C is a diuretic, which can concentrate your urine, so if you take these supplements, drink plenty of water.
Color Changes
The most dramatic impact vitamin supplements have on your urine is usually on its color. An overabundance of B vitamins can potentially turn your urine bright green. Vitamin C might turn it orange. The combinations of vitamins included in some multivitamins can also turn it green, or sometimes blue. It's a harmless effect, occurring simply because your body had enough of the vitamin left over to flush it out.
Tips
If you're concerned about changes in your urine and you think it might have something to do with the vitamins you're taking, stop taking them for a period of time. If the situation improves, then you know the vitamins were probably to blame for the changes. If not, you might have an underlying medical condition that has nothing to do with the supplements, so see your doctor for a checkup.
References
- "Kidney International"; Effect Of Vitamin C Supplements On Urinary Oxalate And Ph In Calcium Stone-Forming Patients; AC Baxmann; March 2003
- Orthomolecular.org; The "Expensive Urine" Myth; November 2008
- Orthomolecular.org; Vitamin C Does Not Cause Kidney Stones; Steve Hickey, PhD and Hilary Roberts, PhD; July 2005
- MayoClinic.com; Urine Color; Mayo Clinic Staff; September 2009
- Aetna InteliHealth; Nutrition: A to Z Glossary; October 2008
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