My son's urine has been a dark amber almost orangy color...?!

My son's urine has been a dark amber almost orangy color...?

He's 14 and runs cross country, so I'm thinking it's probably a bit of dehydration. He also takes Mangosteen pills for mild acne...anyone have any other suggestions as to what the dark urine could be from? I'm taking him to see the doctor this week, but thought I'd see if anyone else had any suggestions as to what it could be. Thanks!

2 weeks ago
He doesn't complain of any flank pain or anywhere else for that matter. Thank you so much for everyone's concern and help so far. I really appreciate it.

Well, dehydration is the most likely suspect, but there are other things that can alter urine color as well. The most likely things to do it are foods that have a lot of food coloring in them to begin with, like a good many of the sports drinks. It's not unusual for toddlers to show up in the ER with frightened parents and a reddish or purple diaper, caused by the consumption of Kool-Aid or similar type drinks. It might even be more noticeable for a combination of these things, since the color might not be particularly noticeable, but he is drinking a little less than he should and the concentrated urine shows the color better. It should improve easily enough simply by having him drink more water and avoiding artificially colored drinks for a day or so. If you notice the color lightens up, you will have your answer. I had some experience not long ago with a patient complaining of bluish urine. It turned out he was a carpenter, and had been working all day in the heat, while drinking a very popular sports drink tinted vibrant blue. As he hadn't drunk enough to stay hydrated well, the colorant concentrated and he thought he was dying of some exotic disease. Turned out not so exotic after all, and cleared up with simply drinking plain water and non- artificially colored drinks. So far as the mangosteen being the culprit, I know that the leaves of the mangosteen used to be used for cattle feed to obtain a yellow tint that was used in paint( the particulars of this are nasty). I don't know if the same chemical is present in the fruit, but even so I would think it would have to be in large quatities to be showing up that clearly noticeable in urine. If he's not having any urinary problems otherwise, like pain or burning, then I'd say the food coloring might be a more likely suspect to look for as well as not enough fluid intake. Hope that helps ease your mind some.