Why does urine smell so bad after eating asparagus?

[DemoTex]

Is it a penile warning? I mean, look at THOSE things!

[Sabriel]

1. What I didn't know until recently is that not all people can smell it.

Some people have the ability to detect the chemical that causes that unique odor, and some don't

Lucky them.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. I apparently have that ability...

Apparently it's an ability to smell EVERYTHING. I have a nose like a freaking dog on crack. It's so annoying sometimes. God, if I ever get pregnant, God forbid, I'm going to have to plug it.
Duckie

[DemoTex]

9. I never smelled it until a year a two ago.

I panicked. I thought my kidneys were rotting!

[begin_within]

2. Since you asked,

Asparagus is filled with sulfur-containing amino acids that break down during digestion into six sulfur-containing compounds. These can impart a unique smell to urine as they are excreted. "It's the same sulfur group that makes skunks smell," said Barbara Hodges, a dietician with Boston University's nutrition clinic, the Evans Nutrition Group.

Scientists remain divided on why people have different urinary responses to eating asparagus. One camp thinks only about half of the population have a gene enabling us to break down the sulfurous amino acids in asparagus into their smellier components. Others think that everyone digests asparagus the same way, but only about half of us have a gene that enables us to smell the specific compounds formed in the digestion of asparagus.

"There's something of a dispute," said Dr. David Stollar, chairman of biochemistry at Tufts University Medical School.

The unusual smells are nothing to worry about, though. According to the Dictionary of Medical Syndromes, which includes an entry on the urinary excretion of odoriferous components of asparagus: "The syndrome does not have any pathological significance."

[DemoTex]

11. Thanks Bob.

We are bracketed by the inane .. but that's OK. I expected it with this topic. It's kinda fun. Piss N' Vinegar, as it were. Eh?

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Men aren't supposed to eat asparagus.

It's for women only.

That's my explanation. Can I have your asparagus?
:evilgrin:

[DemoTex]

7. My asparagus is your asparagus.

Eh, Vern?

[havocmom]

4. does it EVER smell good?

Personally, I think the asparagus seems to help. Wish my cat would eat the stuff.

[DemoTex]

12. Well .. mine never smelled THAT bad ..

I mean .. not normally. There was a time when we got drunk on Champaign cocktails .. and skunky beer like Heineken (I never drink beer anymore .. never!). But it was a broadside a few years ago. I thought my insides were rotting!

[havocmom]

18. Drunk cowboys after the rodeo is done

THAT is not pretty. That was the last time I helped the Lions Club with their hamburger concession booth at the fair. Those boys refused to use the porta potty and thought the fence by the concession stand was just perfect. x(

[DemoTex]

21. Ironic!

Fence lines are a great place to find volunteer asparagus!

[havocmom]

25. Not at THAT fairground. Too dry anytime but fair time

when it rains beer whiz x(

[RedCappedBandit]

5. Why does asparagus smell so good after drinking urine?

I mean uh.. I do enjoy chocolate chip cookies!

[DemoTex]

10. Good point.

I think.

[Control-Z]

8. I just had

the same conversation with my daughter after eating some the other day. Peeyou, some strong stuff.

[deucemagnet]

13. One of my biochemistry professors claims it's because asparagus contains...

...large amounts of the amino acid asparagine (hence, the name). I don't know how true that is, though.

[DemoTex]

14. I was hoping a biochem would chime in ..

I was recalling my biochem and P-chem days at Ga. Tech, with no explanation coming to mind. Thanks!

[deucemagnet]

16. Well, I don't think the information I gave you is very accurate.

This website says that the odor is due to methyl mercaptans in urine, which makes sense (beta-mercaptoethanol is the smelliest stuff I've ever had to work with in a laboratory). Asparagine is not a sulfur-containing amino acid, so I doubt that it has anything to do with the odor. I think the biochem prof steered me wrong on this one. :(

[DemoTex]

17. Well, I'm just so glad my kidneys aren't rotting!

Know what I mean, Vern?

[Sabriel]

19. Isn't that also what they add to natural gas to make it stink?

Or so I've heard.

[DemoTex]

22. "Captan" .. the smell of natural gas.

I worked in the natural gas industry as a pilot for Ken Lay. Remember Ken?

[deucemagnet]

24. I think you're right.

Smelly stuff.

[yellowcanine]

15. I had a teacher once tell our fifth grade class that the rivers in Pittsburgh PA

would always stink during asparagus season in the 40s. Kinda gross when you think about it. Of course it may not have been true because he was known to tell a tall tale from time to time.

[bleedingheart]

23. I find that hard to believe since a woman at the local Giant Eagle

asked me about asparagus and whether it tasted good...

it seems our family is the only one eating it...(my kids love it)

...bleedingheart in da 'burgh..

[grace0418]

20. It's weird to me how *fast* it happens. I feel like I could eat asparagus *while*

urinating and the smell would change midstream. I haven't tested this theory, but it does seem to happen awfully fast.