Decades ago, I called my doctor in a panic because my urine was blood red and, of course, I assumed I was bleeding to death.

There was a pause on the phone and he asked, "What did you eat for supper last night?" And, again of course, I had happily eaten a ton of beets fresh from the garden the night before.

Thanks for reminding me of a treasured family joke. :-))

I have this but I thought it was completely normal. I have always been slightly anemic, so I guess it could be from that... I'll hope that it's the genetic variance or anemia explanation rather than leaky gut or low stomach acid, because I don't think that I'm ready to restrict my diet more than I already am at this point. It would be quite hard to give up my dark chocolate bars. When you say "100% no-gluten/crap oils/sugar," do you include the unprocessed sugar from fruits, berries and honey in that category?

DH's heartburn was caused by casein. Ghee is ok, but cream in the coffee is trouble.

I just saw this thread and thought of you- on the second page of comments, the poster states that she had success in eliminating the pink pee/low stomach acid by consuming fermented veggies with every meal.

I ate beets today and had the exact same experience, pink/red urine. I must admit, it scared me at first but then I remembered reading somewhere online that beets are known to do that if you have low stomach acid. Funny thing is I could only go to the bathroom if I have ACV during the day, if not, I stay constipated for up to a week sometimes.

I thought it's absolutely normal. eating beets ALWAYS causes urine and stool to turn red in everyone I know. It can freak out someone who rarely eats them, but since I come from a country that is established on potatoes and beets... ;-)

oh, and I (same as my mother) have been always anemic. I still am, even with all the meat I consume!

So, I had some raw beets in a salad yesterday, and a couple of hours later my pee was pink. I hadn't had beets in a while, but this was the first time it happened.

My first reaction was panic, followed by some googling (and giggling, when I was pretty sure it was just the beets), followed by mild panic in the end, when I started reading it could be a sign of low stomach acid, lousy gut flora or iron overload.

Those of you who have beeturia, does it happen when you eat the beets raw, cooked or both?

I've also read that it could be a sign of hemochromatosis (iron overload) and that the fact that beeturia isn't permanent on some people might be related to iron absorption fluctuations in the body. Curiously enough, according to my genetic test at 23andMe I carry one (of the two) mutations in the HFE gene that can be responsible for hereditary hemochromatosis (though apparently carrying only one mutation hasn't been shown to cause iron overload).

Yesterday and the day before I'd also had beef liver for lunch and dinner (I usually have it only once a week, but a had some leftovers) - could that have contributed to it as well?

I'll give beets a try next week again and see how it turns out.

I do eat beets, on occasion, and have never actually experienced this phenomenon. However, I suspect that I have low stomach acid because I went on a terrible cycle of heartburn-antacids-heartburn ad nauseum, I did some online research on some hippy-dippy alternative therapies websites and began drinking a dose of 2tsp apple cider vinegar in HOT water and it ended that cycle. If I stay away from bread and the like and drink my vinegar every night no heart burn. The explanation that got me to gag the stuff down was the theory that if there was low stomach acid then food wouldn't be fully/properly digested and thus cause you problems I thought it was worth a try and have been doing it for about a year now. I use hot water because it masks the tartness somewhat and I personally do it at night because that is when I got the most heartburn. Slightly off topic but you might give it a try it you suspect that you might have low acid issues.

Thanks for posting the question. I have it and my daughter has it as well. I almost rushed her to hospital as a toddler when a found a very pink wee in her potty. I always assumed that beetroots affect everyone in this way. Reading the link you posted, I wonder whether my Beeturia could be due to excessive iron absorption. I'm going to get my ferritin levels tested now since Hemochromatosis and Beeturia are both inherited and possibly even linked.

I had beeturia, I drink lots of whites beetroot juice. I was diagnosed ceoliac three months ago, since going gluten free my purple urine stopped within 2 months. My ecczema has also almost gone. My energy has gone up 50%. Take of this what you may. Allan Murray 57

I have never had beeturia until I drank alkaline water then beet juice... this makes me think the stomache ph is a key!