Should you be worried if your urine looks like this?

RED: Beetroot and rhubarb can turn urine red. It could also be caused by blood from a urinary tract infection (UTI) or prostate and kidney problems, including cancer. While it usually has a minor cause, 20 per cent of people with painless blood in their urine receive a cancer diagnosis. Infections are usually painful. Always see your GP.

GREEN: Asparagus may make urine look green because, as with beetroot, some of us may not break down the pigment compounds in it. The drug propofol, a sedative used in surgery, can also turn urine green. This is due to the way the liver processes this drug in some people. The same colour change may be due to an infection caused by a pseudomonas bacteria, which can cause complications.

BLUE: Amitriptyline (used for depression) and indomethacin (a painkiller, and used to relieve symptoms of gout) can turn urine blue. As can an inherited condition, familial benign hypercalcemia, where gut bacteria break down an amino acid, creating blue ‘waste’. BROWN: A brown hue may indicate dehydration. It can also be a sign of liver or kidney disorders, and rhabdomyolysis ( destruction of muscle, for instance by intensive training — but this is rare). Some Parkinson’s drugs and antibiotics can darken urine, too.

ORANGE: Orange urine can be a warning of liver and/or kidney problems, such as obstructive jaundice. Here bile is excreted through the urine, rather than the stools, perhaps due to a gallstone or pancreatic or bile duct cancer. PURPLE: This colour could be a sign of ‘purple urine bag’ syndrome, which can occur when patients with a catheter develop a UTI. Purple urine is also a characteristic of porphyria, a blood disorder which causes the body to make too much porphyrin, the substance that gives blood its colour.