Urine Trouble  Answer Key
Use your book or the internet to find the answers to the following questions:
1. How much urine should normally be produced in a day?
800 to 2000 milliliters per day
2. The following are normal constituents of urine. Where do these solutes come from?
a. Sodium ions controlled by aldosterone; foods and medicine can cause increases of sodium in the
urine
b. Potassium ions change with sodium level changes; affected by aldosterone levels, blood pH,
foods, hormones and certain medicines
c. Urea broken down protein
d. Uric acid from the natural breakdown of your body’s cells; made from the foods you eat (levels
can increase with eating foods high in purines- liver, red meats, game meat, and certain seafood
(sardines, herring, scallops))
e. Creatinine from normal breakdown of muscle during activity
f. Ammonia from protein broken down by bacteria in the intestines
g. Bicarbonate ions skip this one
3. The following are abnormal constituents of urine. What are the possible causes for the appearance of
these in urine?
a. Glucose excessive intake of sugary foods; diabetes mellitus
b. Proteins physical exertion, pregnancy, hypertension
c. Pus (WBCs and bacteria) urinary tract infection (UTI)
d. RBCs bleeding in the urinary tract (due to trauma, kidney stones, infection)
e. Hemoglobin transfusion reaction, hemolytic anemia
f. Bile pigment liver disease
4. What are the 5 characteristics of urine? What is considered normal for each of these characteristics?
Color- typically yellow-amber
Smell- mild smell if fresh, but can have a smell of ammonia if aged
Acidity- 4.6-8 range of pH scale
Specific Gravity (density)- range of 0.001-0.035
Turbidity- clear or very slightly cloudy
5. What do the various colors of urine mean?
Red- some foods (beets, blackberries, rhubarb); blood in urine (Hematuria)
Clear- can mean you are healthy and well-hydrated; overhydrated or possibly diabetes
Orange- (same foods as those that cause red urine); dehydration
Blue- medicines
Green- foods (asparagus), medicines, bile or pus in urine
Light Yellow- healthy urine
Dark Yellow- dehydration
6. Is urine sterile? It was considered sterile until recently, when tests continued to come back positive for
bacteria