A urine pH level test is an integral part of the urinalysis and is designed to analyze the physical properties of urine. Your urine pH shows how acidic or alkaline your urine is. Your urine pH may vary depending on your diet, the amount of water you drink, as well as your current state of health.
Only freshly voided urine should be used for testing urine pH levels because urine becomes slightly alkaline if allowed to stand for a long period of time. If so, blood corpuscles (erythrocytes, leukocytes) are destroyed quickly and may not be found, or only small quantities of them are found in the sediment.
Interpret now "Complete Blood Count (CBC)"
Interpret now "Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)"
Healthy adults generally have slightly acidic or neutral urine. The lower the pH level, the more acidic the urine. Eating protein-rich and fatty foods increases the acidity of urine. Fruits, vegetables, brown bread and milk increase the alkalinity of urine.
Newborn babies have slightly acidic urine (pH 5.4-5.9), while premature newborns have more acidic urine (pH 4.8-5.4). The pH of urine of a newborn baby begins to rise quickly in 2-4 days after the baby is born reaching 6.9-7.8 in breastfed babies and 5.4-6.9 in artificially fed babies.
The pH of urine impacts bacterial growth and activity, as well as the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy.
A single urine pH level test is inconclusive. For diagnostic purposes, a urine pH test should be performed 3 times a day for 3 days.
Automatic interpretation of the urinalysis results