Nutritional Advice for Urostomates

Urostomates don’t need to follow any dietary restrictions and are advised to follow these simple guidelines:-

• In hot weather drink plenty of fluids to prevent urine becoming concentrated as this can increase the risk of urinary tact infections
• Eat foods high in vitamin C such as oranges and natural fruit juice, especially cranberry juice. This helps to keep the urine acidic and can help to reduce the likelihood of urinary tract infections. A glass of cranberry juice a day may also help to reduce the amount of mucous produced by your stoma (NB if taking warfarin don’t drink cranberry or grapefruit juice)

Some foods and medications can change the colour and smell of urine:- 

• Fish, asparagus, onions, garlic and some spices can make urine smell
• Beetroot  can turn urine red, some drugs also cause colour changes e.g. senna (yellow or brown), some iron medication (black) some antibiotics (red-brown), warfarin (orange) and some anti-depressants (blue-green)

Other nutritional advice sections available:-

• Reintroduction of food
• Healthy diet
• Wind
• Odour
• Diarrhoea
• Dieting
• Colostomy specific advice
• Ileostomy specific advice