Why Urine is Yellow
[caption id="attachment_3172" align="alignright" width="366"] A urine sample.[/caption] Admit it. You've always wondered why. Why is urine yellow? What chemical or chemicals are involved? Consider the primary red blood cell component, “heme.” Heme & Porphyrin Dorland’s Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers, 2007, informs us heme is “an iron compound of protoporphyrin which constitutes the pigment portion or protein-free part of the hemoglobin molecule.” Heme is the colorful portion (red) of our blood. Notice, in particular, the partial word in the definition, porphyrin. Recycling & Trash Red blood cells become old and need to be replaced. What happens to the old red blood cells? They are, first, consumed by macrophages in the blood. For the person who has his or her body intact, much of this occurs within the spleen. It also…