Your Liver Health Reflects Directly onto Your Urine : Find Out How

Urine constituents are divided into two specific parts : Normal & Abnormal.
Normal constituents consist of excretory elements found in the urine of every human being for example urea, uric acid, sulphates, chlorides, etc. While the abnormal constituents are found in relation to one specific malfunctioning organ.
The abnormal constituents range from glucose to ketone bodies with reference to diabetes; blood, albumin and other proteins in other diseases and health conditions; and bile salts and bile pigments with reference to jaundice and hepatitis; all of which point towards a faulty liver.

The colour plays a vital role in urine analysis done for any specific organ. It’s a low effort physical examination that helps us draw significant conclusions early on into testing. Usually when a urine test is done with reference to an abnormal liver pathology, the colour of the urine ranges from dark orange, amber, cola-coloured or brown. So when a urine sample displays a colour within this spectrum, you can say that the liver is pretty “piss”ed-off with this person. I know, can’t get any lamer, bear with me and my dad-joke generating neurons please.

To get started, I’ll have to introduce you to Bilirubin (formerly, Billy Reuben), a yellowish substance made during the body's normal process of breaking down red blood cells (haemoglobin catabolism). Bilirubin is found in bile, a fluid in your liver that helps you digest food. If your liver is healthy, it will remove most of the bilirubin from your body by breaking it down to urobilin that gets excreted through the urine. But if your liver is damaged, no such metabolism happens and bilirubin can directly leak into your blood and urine. Normal urine also has some urobilinogen but if this amount goes beyond the normal range, your liver might not be working well. Here’s a picture that explains the normal cycle of breakdown of haemoglobin into urobilin and the relation between the liver and the kidneys.

Because bilirubin in urine can indicate liver damage before other symptoms appear, your health care provider may order a bilirubin in urine test if you are at a higher risk for liver damage. Risk factors for liver disease include:

• Family history of liver disease
• Heavy drinking
• Exposure or possible exposure to hepatitis virus
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Taking certain medicines that can cause liver damage

If bilirubin is found in your urine, it may indicate:

• Hepatitis
• Auto - Immune Disorders
• A blockage in the structures that carry Bile from your Liver
• Fatty Liver
• Liver Cirrhosis
• Other Problems with Liver Function

The liver is one of the essential organs of the body, it regulates chemical levels in the body and aids in every function ranging from digestion, to enzyme activation to excretion to synthesis. Thus, maintaining and monitoring liver health is extremely important. If you have a health condition in relation to your liver, a urinalysis on a regular basis will help keep it in check and steer clear of complications. Urinalysis of a healthy individual can also be done from time to time, as a preventive measure.