Causes of Clear Urine: Alcohol and Other Factors Explained
Health ConditionsUrological Health

Is Clear Urine a Cause for Concern?

Is Clear Urine a Cause for Concern?
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Updated on August 6, 2025
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When your body is well hydrated and healthy, your urine should be a pale yellow shade.

Clear, colorless urine can be due to several factors, including drinking alcohol. If your urine is consistently clear, it’s worth checking with your healthcare provider to figure out the cause.

Certain foods and medications can temporarily change your urine color. Though it may be alarming, it’s usually nothing to worry about. However, it’s possible that an infection or underlying condition that needs treatment is changing the color of your urine.

Too Much Water Can Make Your Urine Clear

When you first urinate in the morning, look for yellow-colored urine. This indicates your body is expelling toxins.

If your urine is perfectly clear, you may be drinking too much water.

Drinking too much water can lead to hyponatremia (water intoxication), in which your sodium levels drop too low, causing potential harm.
Darker yellow urine, however, is a sign of low urine volume, which could be due to dehydration.

Excessive Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol is a diuretic. It increases your production of urine and can potentially cause excessive urination.

For an adult, excessive urination means expelling more than 2.5 liters of urine daily. Your urine output can vary according to the amount of water you consume and the total amount of water in your body.

Consuming alcohol and caffeine together can also lead to higher-than-normal urine volume. In turn, this could result in clear pee without drinking water to excess.

Diuretic Medications

Diuretic medications can also cause your urine to appear clear.

Diuretics are a class of drugs that help your kidneys move excess salt and water from your body into your urine. This increases urine production and volume and lowers the amount of fluid in your blood. Diuretics are helpful for people with kidney function issues, swelling (edema), heart failure, or high blood pressure.

Arginine Vasopressin Disorders (Diabetes Insipidus)

It’s also possible to have clear urine without drinking water to excess. It could be a sign of an arginine vasopressin disorder, formerly known as diabetes insipidus. Despite its name, diabetes insipidus is not related to diabetes mellitus.

An arginine vasopressin disorder is a rare condition that causes the fluids in your body to become unbalanced. It results when your body has problems producing or using the hormone arginine vasopressin.

You’re likely to experience heightened thirst and frequent urination with an arginine vasopressin disorder. Other symptoms include colorless or pale urine and higher urine production at night.

Urine Color and What It Means

While your urine should normally stay within a range of light yellow, changes in color can signal certain issues, some more serious than others.

Darker yellow urine is typically a sign of mild dehydration. If it edges into brown or orange, you need to hydrate as soon as possible. Brown or orange urine could also mean there’s bile in your urine, a symptom of liver disease.

Pink or red urine can simply result from eating blueberries, beets, or rhubarb. But a pink or red color can also indicate blood in the urine. If this occurs, it could be a sign of a medical condition that needs treatment.

Blue or green urine likely results from a specific medication or dyed food.

Cloudy white urine can indicate a urinary tract infection, kidney stones, or dehydration.

Occasional fizzy or foamy urine isn’t usually serious, but more frequent episodes could indicate the presence of too much protein in the urine.

The Takeaway

  • Urine color can vary, but it’s typically pale yellow.
  • Clear urine may indicate overhydration. Frequent or excessive urination from alcohol consumption or diuretic medications can also result in clear urine.
  • If your pee is consistently clear for a prolonged period, it could be a sign of an underlying condition that requires a medical evaluation for an accurate diagnosis.
  • Temporary changes in the color of your pee can be due to foods or medication. If you notice persistent changes, talk to your doctor.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Ask the Experts: What Does the Color of My Urine Mean About My Health? Urology Care Foundation. 2017.
  2. Red, Brown, Green: Urine Colors and What They Might Mean. Harvard Health Publishing. April 15, 2020.
  3. Urination – Excessive Amount. MedlinePlus. July 1, 2023.
  4. Diuretics. Cleveland Clinic. December 4, 2024.
  5. Arginine Vasopressin Disorders (Diabetes Insipidus). Cleveland Clinic. April 8, 2025.
  6. What the Color of Your Pee Says About You. Cleveland Clinic. November 8, 2021.
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Allison Buttarazzi, MD

Allison Buttarazzi, MD

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Castle Connolly Top Doctor, Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Allison Buttarazzi, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine and lifestyle medicine, and is a certified health and well-being coach. In her primary care practice, Dr. Buttarazzi focuses on lifestyle medicine to help her patients improve their health and longevity, and her passion is helping patients prevent and reverse chronic diseases (like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes) by improving their lifestyle habits.

She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and completed a residency at Maine Medical Center. Diagnosed with celiac disease during medical school, she realized the power of improving one's health through diet and lifestyle habits, which she later incorporated into her practice.

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Barbara Hazelden's interest in healthy living began decades ago, during her high school and college years. Always a non-smoker, she also adopted a vegetarian lifestyle for health and ethical reasons. Today, her dietary regimen essentially remains the same, although she recently banished gluten from her menu as well. Barbara does, however, continue to enjoy her dark chocolate every day. During the past few years, Barbara has also been working to simplify her personal life. She has gradually been gravitating toward a minimalist lifestyle, clearing out excess furniture and dust magnets from her house, and removing mental cobwebs that could keep her from moving forward. As a previous everydayhealth.com writer, she welcomes the chance to again contribute to the company's healthy living-focused mission.

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