Why is it that every medical website lists foamy urine as a symptom of protein in the urine?
Answer Dear Ida, Foamy urine was first attributed to proteinuria (protein in the urine) in the 1700’s by a physician named Richard Bright. Since then, that abnormality has been blamed on proteinuria. In fact, if a patient has massive proteinuria (that is 3000 mg per day or more) the urine will foam. It is probably a phenomenon analogous to whipping an egg white. A dip stick qualitative test for protein is very sensitive, so if it is nagative, I would feel comfortable that there is no abnormal proteinuria. If he will do it, a 24 hour urine collection for protein excretion will quantify the exact quantity he is excreting each day. In the face of a negative dip stick it would certainly be a normal excretion rate. A serum creatinine is a function of the filtering ability of the kidney and is unrelated to the amount of protein excreted. In other words, one may have massive amounts of protein in the urine and the creatinine is often normal. Contrary wise, one may have no proteinuria but terr
