Foam in urine

(David Seri) #1

I have being in Ketosis for about 6 months now and I have noticed that my urine is very foamy. I have researched in Dr. Mercola webpage about this and it says that foam in urine is a sign of hypertension. I try to follow the ketogenic diet perfectly and I feel great benefits except that sometimes I feel my heart a strange pain that worries me specially since I read about the relationship of foamy urine and hypertension. Does anyone know any information about the signs of foamy urine? Thanks

(Vladaar Malane) #2

Good question, I have noticed some foam action myself. I wonder if it could just be what we eat though.

(Cathy) #3

IMO if you are experiencing chest pain, you should seek medical help right away.

(David Seri) #4

Thanks for the advice. I decided to go to the hospital and have me checked out right away. the doctor says that everything looks perfectly normal and I look very healthy for a 46 year old and that’s because I’m an athlete and eat healthy. I did not tell him I am doing a ketogenic diet because it is such a controversial subject. He says it’s probably anxiety and stress because I am going through lots of family problems because my mother seems to be going through early stages of Alzheimer’s. I just took a Valium to relax. I don’t know if it could also be related that I have recently quit smoking marijuana cold turkey since I am feeling so good with a ketogenic diet that I don’t need it anymore for my pains that I used to get. Tomorrow I am getting a blood and urine analysis and they are also going to do a heart cardio gram. I will let you know how the results turn out to be. Greetings from the island of Mallorca in Spain :slight_smile:

(Annie) #5

Sometimes foamy urine might just be your urine coming out faster and hitting the toilet harder. If you’re keeping well hydrated, you might just have more in your bladder, causing there to be more pressure on it as it comes out (like a more full balloon will expel air faster than a half-inflated balloon). I’d be surprised if you had hypertension as most people end up with lower blood pressure on keto, too, but if you had hypertension, it’d be as simple as checking your blood pressure to see if that were the case. The stress could definitely be causing the problem, and I’m sorry you have to go through that. There may also be an electrolyte imbalance, too, but they’ll see that when you get your blood work done. Hope they figure it out and that things get better!

(Ken) #6

IMO,

It’s normal. At least for me. The more fat I eat, the more foam. It’s been that way ever since I switched to fat based nutritional pattern.

#7

The problem with diagnosing from the internet. The foamy pee=hypertension diagnosis sounds like total BS.
My pee is extra foamy if I eat a ton of protein.

(Robert Anderson) #8

I have noticed the same thing. I did have hypertension before I started keto and did NOT have foamy pee. my BP is perfect now and off all meds. I really think it is just the high fat/protein in the urine.

(Janelle) #9

Is Mercola considered a reliable source?

I’m glad you got yourself checked out. Sounds like you might be having small subconscious panic attacks. Do something nice for yourself - sometimes just realizing you’re stressed helps you deal with it.

(Peter Segers) #10

I measure my hart rate variability (HRV) for +2 months.
These are some of the custom variables i use: “little/moderate/much carbohydrates” + “little/moderate/much foamy urine”.
I noticed following correlations

  • more carbohydrate = lower HRV, lower “low frequency” etc.
  • less carbohydrates = more foamy urine;
    Don’t eat much meat/fat and don’t follow Keto but eat a lot of diarry

Excel function correlations says:
Correlations between foamy urine and factor x:
correlation carbohydrates = -50%
correlation weekly HRV = -82%
correlation NN50 = -67%

Think it’s time for me to start KETO

(Omar) #11

no

I do not trust lawyers and sales reps such as Mercola

(Rossi Luo) #12

This is an old post, but I don’t want to post a duplicate post about the foamy urine. I noticed my foamy urine as well. I searched in the forum and I found this post, I’m curious how many people have the foamy urine in keto diet. I searched on google, many doctors say that the foam is a bad indicator that your kidney may have problem with too much proteins. I found DR. Berg’s video about the kidney. Any thought on it?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

I can’t think of any mechanistic way in which hypertension could cause foamy urine. So forget that.

Here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say:

Passing foamy urine now and then is normal, for the speed of urination and other factors can influence this.

But you should see your doctor if you have persistently foamy urine that becomes more noticeable over time. This can be a sign of protein in your urine (proteinuria), which requires further evaluation.
Increased amounts of protein in urine could mean you have a serious kidney problem.

If your urine seems unusually foamy most of the time, your doctor may recommend a urine test to check for elevated levels of protein. If the test is positive, you may need further tests to determine the cause of the problem.

This seems like well-balanced advice.

Lastly, if anything, a well formulated ketogenic diet should reduce proteinuria, not worsen it. Keto is not a high-protein diet.

(Rossi Luo) #14

But I eat meat every meal, the meat has fat part and lean part (protein), so I found it’s quite hard to control or know the ratio between fat:protein, if I eat too much protein, proteins damages kidney, doesn’t it?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

That is debatable. It won’t harm healthy kidneys, and there is some question about whether proteinuria causes kidney damage or is merely the result. I believe this lecture from Dr. Paul Mason in Australia might be helpful:

(Rossi Luo) #16

The view in this video is quite interesting, as I understand, it means concentrated urine with protein indicates that your kidney functions well. :smile: , I will choose to believe it. Because I am very healthy except my fatty liver and the history of my mom’s type 2 diabetics, and my BMI is 25.1 (normal range 18.5—24.9), the BMI is just a little bit higher than the normal range, but actually I have much lean muscles trained in gym years ago. Well, I think I should stop concern on the foamy urine for the time being.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #17

While Dr. Mason is not a researcher himself, he has gotten into the ketogenic diet in a big way over the past few years and appears to be reading scientific papers like crazy. He is very good at integrating what he learns from them. He is also friends with Dr. Peter Brukner, the former physician of the Australian national cricket team, who had great success with putting them all on a ketogenic diet.