Does Turmeric Change the Colour of Your Urine?

Possibly. People taking turmeric supplements describe brighter yellow urine, though we found no study that measured urine colour, and yellow stools are the effect recorded in trials. On its own a brighter yellow is harmless; dark, tea-coloured urine with pale stools or yellow skin or eyes after starting a supplement is the pattern that means stop and see a GP the same day.^{1, 2, 3} There is one specific pattern of symptoms in the research that is worth knowing, so stick with us for a few minutes.

Sources checked on 1 November 2026.

So, does turmeric change your urine?

Possibly. Curcumin, the compound that gives turmeric its colour, is a strong yellow dye, authorised as the food colour E100.⁴ Anyone who has tried to get a turmeric stain out of a white t-shirt knows this already. Little of a swallowed dose is absorbed, and what is absorbed is quickly converted by the gut wall and liver, so most of the pigment leaves in the stool; yellow stools are a recorded effect in trials.^{5, 1} We found no study that measured urine colour after turmeric, but readers describe a brighter, more golden yellow. By itself, that is not something to worry about.

Why does it happen?

It comes down to how concentrated the dose is. A curry has a modest pinch of turmeric spread across a big pot of food. A capsule of 95% extract can carry about 475 mg of curcuminoids, and black pepper extract (piperine) raised curcumin's blood levels for up to an hour in the study behind the "2,000%" figure.⁵ More curcumin in means more to be converted and cleared.

What about kidney stones?

One detail is easy to miss: in a study of 11 healthy adults, supplemental doses of turmeric significantly raised urinary oxalate, and the authors judged that a kidney-stone risk in susceptible people. Cinnamon, tested alongside it in the same study, didn't have that effect.⁶ None of this means everyone taking turmeric will end up with a stone, but if you've had kidney stones before, or they run in the family, it's a sensible thing to flag with your GP or pharmacist before you start.

The bit that actually matters: telling harmless from not-harmless

Most articles on this topic stop at "it's just a bit of yellow dye, don't worry." We think that leaves something important out. Rare liver problems in people taking turmeric or curcumin supplements have been reported, and the UK Committee on Toxicity concluded in December 2024 that, despite limited data, there is reasonable evidence for a link.⁴ Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, had received 18 reports of liver problems in people taking turmeric or curcumin products up to 29 June 2023, one of them with a fatal outcome; it found the risk rare, possibly higher with enhanced-absorption or higher-dose products, and not apparent with turmeric eaten in typical food amounts.⁷ In a US series of ten cases, symptoms typically began one to four months into regular use; an Italian series involved high-dose, high-absorption products; and in a series of 11 cases liver tests returned to normal after stopping.^{8, 9, 10}

So how do you tell the difference? A bit more yellow than usual, on its own, is nothing. But dark, tea-coloured urine alongside pale stools, yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes, itchy skin, nausea or stomach pain is a different story altogether.^{2, 3} If that combination turns up after starting a turmeric or curcumin supplement, stop taking it and get it checked out, ideally the same day rather than waiting it out.

Other things that turn your wee a funny colour

Turmeric has company here. The NHS notes that beetroot can turn pee pink and that some medicines can turn it red or brown.¹¹ If your urine changes colour and none of this applies to you, that's when it's worth a chat with your GP.

And what does liver trouble actually look like?

Once you've ruled out the obvious (dark yellow, strong-smelling pee is a sign of dehydration), darker pee can come with jaundice, which happens when a substance called bilirubin builds up in the body, sometimes because of liver disease.^{12, 2} Look out for paler stools alongside it, plus the yellowing of jaundice, that yellowish cast to the skin and the whites of the eyes. Any of that combined with stomach discomfort is a reason to see a doctor rather than wait and see.

Turmeric's other side effects

Used as a normal cooking spice, turmeric is well tolerated by most people. Push the dose up with supplements and some people get an upset stomach, nausea or diarrhoea; in trials these effects are often mild and about as common as on placebo.¹ If it doesn't, or it's severe, stop and speak to a pharmacist or GP.

It can also interact with medication, warfarin and other blood thinners in particular; NHS Wales's medicines advice service advises avoiding it with gallstones or bile-duct disease and stopping medicinal turmeric at least two weeks before planned surgery.^{13, 1} Taking anything else regularly, or managing an existing condition? Check with a pharmacist first.

Is it fine to take every day?

As a cooking ingredient, generally yes, most people can eat turmeric daily without any issue. Supplements are a different amount of it altogether, so stick to whatever dose is on the label rather than assuming more equals better, and if you're planning to take a high-strength or enhanced-absorption version long term, run it past a healthcare professional first.

What we don't know

• Urine colour: we found no study that measured it after turmeric, so how often a colour change happens is unknown.
• Who gets the liver reaction: it is idiosyncratic, and nobody can know in advance whether they are prone to it.⁴
• Urine volume: no human trial has measured whether turmeric changes how much you pee.⁶

Frequently asked questions

Which urine colour should worry me?

Dark, tea-coloured or brown urine, especially with pale stools, yellow skin or eyes, nausea or stomach pain, is the combination that needs a doctor the same day. Plain bright yellow on its own is usually diet, a supplement or being a bit dehydrated. The common signs of taking more turmeric than suits you are stomach upset, nausea and diarrhoea, usually mild;¹ it is the dark-urine pattern above, not a brighter yellow, that needs medical attention promptly.

Does turmeric make your urine smell?

We found no study that measured urine odour after turmeric or curcumin, so there is no evidence either way: the colour change is documented, the smell is not. Strong-smelling urine most often means it is concentrated; the NHS lists "dark yellow, strong-smelling pee" among the signs of dehydration, which a glass of water usually fixes.¹² If the smell comes with pain or burning when you pee, or cloudy urine, the NHS says a urinary tract infection is possible and a pharmacist can advise; its UTI page adds that pee that is dark or smells, as the only symptom, "might be because you've not been drinking enough water".¹⁴

Is turmeric a diuretic, and does it make you urinate more?

We found no human trial that measured urine output after turmeric or curcumin, so "diuretic" has no evidence behind it in people; the one study that collected urine from turmeric takers, 11 healthy adults over four weeks, measured oxalate, not volume.⁶ If you are peeing more since starting turmeric, the usual explanation is the drink it came in: a golden milk or turmeric tea is mostly water. The opposite is the one to act on: dark yellow pee or peeing less than normal is on the NHS list of reasons to ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111, whatever you have been taking.¹²

Does turmeric make your poo yellow or orange?

It can. Curcumin is poorly absorbed, so most of a supplement dose passes through the gut and leaves in the stool, and yellow stool is among the effects recorded in trials;¹ in a dose study of 24 healthy volunteers, no curcumin was detected in the blood at single doses up to 8 g.¹⁵ How often it happens is not known. Pale, clay-coloured stools are different: with dark urine they are the NHS jaundice pair, "darker pee and paler poo than usual", and that combination after starting a turmeric supplement needs a GP the same day.²

Does eating turmeric change your skin colour?

Not from eating it. The effects recorded in the turmeric trials and case series are stomach upset and the rare liver reaction; yellow skin from eating turmeric is not among them.⁸ The yellow is on the outside: turmeric stains whatever it touches, so a face mask, a paste or fresh root leaves a temporary mark that fades with washing. Yellow skin or yellow whites of the eyes is jaundice, and the NHS says to ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if "your skin or the white part of your eyes look yellow"; after starting a turmeric supplement that is the liver signal described above, so stop and get seen the same day.²

One last thing: none of this is medical advice, just general information to help you make sense of what you're seeing. If a urine colour change sticks around, or turns up with any of the symptoms above, please get it looked at by your GP or pharmacist rather than waiting to see if it passes.

Sources

1. Welsh Medicines Advice Service (NHS Wales). Turmeric: potential adverse effects. Professional guidance, published 22 October 2024. wmic.wales.nhs.uk.
2. NHS. Jaundice. Page last reviewed 22 January 2024. nhs.uk/conditions/jaundice.
3. Akhtar N, et al. Rarely reported cases of hepatotoxicity associated with turmeric- and curcuminoid-containing dietary supplements: a comprehensive review by USP. Pharmaceutical Biology, 2026. Expert committee safety review (US Pharmacopeia); no conflicts declared. PubMed 42364655.
4. Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. Statement on the potential risk to human health of turmeric and curcumin supplements (COT/2024/07), summary and conclusions, December 2024. Expert committee statement, including a 2021 survey of 15 UK supplements; read in the UK Government Web Archive, as the committee's own site has withdrawn the page. webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
5. Shoba G, et al. Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers. Planta Medica, 1998. Pharmacokinetic study in rats and healthy volunteers, single doses; funding not stated on PubMed. PubMed 9619120.
6. Tang M, Larson-Meyer DE, Liebman M. Effect of cinnamon and turmeric on urinary oxalate excretion, plasma lipids, and plasma glucose in healthy subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2008. Randomised crossover trial, 11 healthy adults, two 4-week periods; funding not stated on PubMed. PubMed 18469248.
7. Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia). Medicines containing turmeric or curcumin: risk of liver injury. Regulator alert (safety advisory), published 15 August 2023, covering reports received up to 29 June 2023. tga.gov.au.
8. Halegoua-DeMarzio D, et al. Liver injury associated with turmeric, a growing problem: ten cases from the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network. American Journal of Medicine, 2023. Case series, 10 people, US network cases 2004 to 2022; US National Institutes of Health funding. PubMed 36252717.
9. Lombardi N, et al. Acute liver injury following turmeric use in Tuscany: an analysis of the Italian Phytovigilance database and systematic review of case reports. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2021. Case analysis, 7 people, and systematic review of 23 published cases; funding not stated on PubMed. PubMed 32656820.
10. Papke DJ, et al. Turmeric supplement-associated hepatitis: a clinicopathological series of 11 cases. Histopathology, 2025. Case series, 11 people; funding not stated on PubMed. PubMed 39381846.
11. NHS. Blood in urine. Page last reviewed 25 September 2026. nhs.uk/conditions/blood-in-urine.
12. NHS. Dehydration. Page last reviewed 1 May 2026. nhs.uk/conditions/dehydration.
13. Welsh Medicines Advice Service (NHS Wales). Turmeric: potential interactions. Professional guidance, published 22 October 2024. wmic.wales.nhs.uk.
14. NHS. Urinary tract infections (UTIs). Page last reviewed 11 July 2025. nhs.uk/conditions/urinary-tract-infections-utis.
15. Lao CD, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2006. Dose-escalation study, 24 healthy volunteers, single doses; US National Institutes of Health funding. PubMed 16545122.

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