Here's why your breath might smell like pee

None of us like the smell of urinals, but it turns out that sometimes your breath might smell like pee as well.

Bad breath is something we all experience at one point of our life or another, despite trying to avoid it at all costs.

Poor dental hygiene, eating a meal full of garlic and even illness can leave our breath smelling less than desirable.

However, while it can easily be fixed with a good amount of toothpaste and mouthwash, here's what it could mean if your breath smells like urine.

Diet: What one eats often affects their breath. Some foods react in the body to produce ammonia, the chemicals that makes pee smell. This is a common problem with people who follow the ketogenic diet. Any high protein diet can cause your breath the smell like urine. Furthermore, foods like onion and garlic also encourage the body to produce ammonia. Consuming too much alcohol can have the same effect as well.

Stomach infection: A common bacteria that lives in the stomach can also make your breath smell like pee. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is present in about half of people around the world, but most don't show symptoms. The bacteria can cause stomach ulcers, inflammation and can even lead to stomach cancer in infected people. It may also cause pain in tummy, a lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, bloating, weight loss or dark coloured poo.

Sinus infection: A sinus infection may also cause the mouth to smell like urine. The infection causes swelling of the sinuses, thick mucus, a blocked nose and pain in the face. Sinus is often the result of a bacterial or fungal infection and it's these bugs that can cause you to have bad breath.

Urinary tract infection: A urinary tract infection (UTI) causes severe pain and burning when urinating, strong smelling pee, a constant need to go to the loo and pelvic pain. If the infection spreads to the kidneys it can cause a metallic taste in your mouth and leave your breath smelling like wee.

Chronic kidney disease: This is the most serious cause of breath smelling like pee.

When the kidneys aren't functioning properly they aren't able to flush toxins out of the bloodstream. This can cause a build-up of toxins in the blood, which can leave a metallic taste in the mouth and breath that smells like wee.

One may also suffer symptoms like nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, dizziness, swelling in the legs, feet and ankles and pain in the back, side or legs.