We've known that urine's color comes from the bile salts (biliverdin, bilirubin) for years and years.<p>In the tropics, particularly, urine color is used as a general-purpose indicator to how dehydrated you are. The more dehydrated, the darker the urine. In a cargo boat I once travelled in, there was a color-chart in every toilet to teach the crew about dehydration, and the necessity to drink more water if the urine was too dark.<p>The brown color of shit also comes from the same bile-salts. When people have a bile-duct blockage that lasts long enough their shit is described as 'putty-like' (that very pale gray-beige color)<p>The article sounds like it was written by a journo who's a bit light-on with scientific knowledge.