Why does urine smell bad?

If the urine has a strong odor, it is usually a problem of urinary tract infection. Stones cannot be ruled out. You need to go to the hospital for a routine urine test and then receive targeted treatment. However, some people have strong urine odor due to their own physiological reasons, such as drinking less water, hot weather, heavy exercise, excessive sweating, and getting angry. How to distinguish whether the cause of urine is physiological or pathological by its smell? What diseases can cause urine to have a strong odor? How to solve it?

1. Urine with ammonia smell. The volatile acid in normal urine will decompose urea due to bacteria or produce an ammonia smell after being left. If the urine has an ammonia smell as soon as it is discharged, it often indicates chronic cystitis and chronic urinary retention.

2. There is a 90% chance that foul-smelling urine is a sign of bacterial infection. It could be E-COLI bacteria, which can cause your urine to smell bad. It should be treated immediately and you should see a doctor as soon as possible.

3. Burning sulfur smell in urine The optimistic estimate is that it may be because you ate too much asparagus. The sulfur-containing amino acids in asparagus can give your urine this smell. This smell will fade away as the asparagus is fully digested. If the sulfur smell persists for more than two days, it is necessary to go to the hospital for a urine test.

4. Urine smells sweet and fruity If your urine smells like sweet fruit, it's not because you ate too much fruit salad. This odor in your urine is most likely due to a bacterial infection. The smell is released by acids called ketones in the blood as the body tries to get rid of glucose. If this situation is not taken seriously, it may pose a threat to your life. The urine of some diabetic patients contains a lot of sugar, which attracts some sweet-loving insects. Therefore, the urine of diabetic patients often smells like sweet fruit.

5. Caramel smell If your urine has a strong caramel smell, then there is reason to suspect whether you have maple syrup urine disease. Maple syrup urine disease is a rare genetic disease that occurs in only one in 225,000 people. People with maple syrup urine disease often cannot metabolize protein properly, which is why their urine smells like caramel.

Kidney disease

The kidneys excrete waste from the body in the form of urine, so signs of kidney disease often appear in the form of urine. Normally many people don’t pay attention to their urine, but in fact, it hides many signs of diseases.

Infections

The urine of a healthy person is light yellow and odorless, but it will emit a bad smell when something is wrong with the human body. Among them, the representative smell of urine is similar to that of ammonia, which may be caused by an infection such as cystitis. Generally, after an inflammatory infection, not only will the urine have an odor, but there will also be symptoms such as fever, painful urination, difficulty urinating, and incomplete urination.

diabetes

In diabetes, some sugar is excreted in the urine, but because the amount is so small, it is difficult to detect the odor. But there will still be a faint sweet taste, and this is when you need to seek medical help.

Neonatal diseases

In very rare cases, newborns may develop maple syrup urine disease, which is a condition that smells like maple syrup, or phenylketonuria, which is a condition that smells like mold. These are diseases that only occur in the neonatal period.

Criteria for judging abnormal urine

Toilet and urine odor

A healthy person's urine is light yellow and odorless. If any abnormality occurs suddenly, go to a medical institution for examination as soon as possible.

The color of urine

If red turbid urine appears, the first thing to suspect is acute nephritis or cancer.

Foaming urine

The presence of large amounts of protein in the urine can cause the urine to foam. Healthy people may also experience this phenomenon after exercise or a fever. But it is still better to have a physical examination to feel more at ease.

Solutions to odor: (1) Do not hold your urine; when you feel the urge to urinate, urinate immediately. With the increasing work pressure nowadays, many people have the habit of holding urine, which can easily lead to yellow urine. Therefore, people with yellow urine should pay attention to urinating regularly and on time; (2) Eat less spicy food and more light and heat-reducing food. Eat less spicy dishes and garlic, and eat more bitter melon, grapefruit and other foods that reduce internal heat; (3) Drink more water. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink water. By then your body is already dehydrated, which will cause yellow urine over time. The condition will improve as long as you drink more water, but don’t drink too much water at one time. Try to drink it in several times; (4) If the urine is yellow and has an odor, it means that there is inflammation in the body.