Context: Clinicians and athletes can benefit from fieldexpedient measurement tools, such as urine color, to assess hydration state; however, the diagnostic efficacy of this tool has not been established.Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of urine color assessment to distinguish a hypohydrated state (!2% body mass loss [BML]) from a euhydrated state (,2% BML) after exercise in a hot environment.Design: Controlled laboratory study. Setting: Environmental chamber in a laboratory.Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-two healthy men (age ¼ 22 6 3 years, height ¼ 180.4 6 8.7 cm, mass ¼ 77.9 6 12.8 kg, body fat ¼ 10.6% 6 4.6%).Intervention(s): Participants cycled at 68% 6 6% of their maximal heart rates in a hot environment (368C 6 18C) for 5 hours or until 5% BML was achieved. At the point of each 1% BML, we assessed urine color.Main Outcome Measure(s): Diagnostic efficacy of urine color was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios.Results: Urine color was useful as a diagnostic tool to identify hypohydration after exercise in the heat (area under the curve ¼ 0.951, standard error ¼ 0.022; P , .001). A urine color of 5 or greater identified BML !2% with 88.9% sensitivity and 84.8% specificity (positive likelihood ratio ¼ 5.87, negative likelihood ratio ¼ 0.13).Conclusions: Under the conditions of acute dehydration due to exercise in a hot environment, urine color assessment can be a valid, practical, inexpensive tool for assessing hydration status. Researchers should examine the utility of urine color to identify a hypohydrated state under different BML conditions.