Urine reducing substances

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Urine sample

This is a screening test to detect various substances in the urine that chemically react with an indicator metallic dye called cupric sulfate. The most common reducing substances examined include glucose or galactose.

Clinitest

Collect a "clean-catch" (midstream) urine sample. To do so, men and boys should wipe clean the head of the penis. Women and girls need to wash the area between the lips of the vagina with soapy water and rinse well.

As you start to urinate, allow a small amount to fall into the toilet bowl (this clears the urethra of contaminants). Then, in a clean container, catch about 1 to 2 ounces of urine and remove the container from the urine stream. Give the container to the health care provider or assistant.

For an infant, thoroughly wash the area around the urethra. Open a urine collection bag (a plastic bag with an adhesive paper on one end), and place it on your infant. For males, the entire penis can be placed in the bag and the adhesive attached to the skin. For females, the bag is placed over the labia. Place a diaper over the infant (bag and all).

Check your baby frequently and remove the bag after the infant has urinated into it. For active infants, this procedure may take a couple of attempts -- lively infants can displace the bag, causing an inability to obtain the specimen. The urine is drained into a container for transport back to the health care provider.

A Clinitest tablet is placed in a sample of the urine. If urinary reducing substances (glucose, galactose, or other reducing substances) are present, the urine will turn blue.

No special preparation is necessary for this test. If the collection is being taken from an infant, a couple of extra collection bags may be necessary.

The test involves only normal urination.

This test is a quick and inexpensive way of screening for diabetes and inborn metabolic problems such as galactosemia (elevated level of galactose in the blood).