#4254967 - 05/02/16 06:33 AM
Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
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Joined: Dec 2014
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CG2015
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Our family loves fresh asparagus. We love it grilled, roasted, simmered, blanched, fried. But unfortunately for some of us, especially me, when I go to the restroom to urinate not long after eating asparagus, my urine will have a strong funny odor. So if you ever want to know Why Does Asparagus Make Your Pee Smell?here are the reasons why: What is the condition known as asparagus pee?
Just before the onset of the summer, produce heads can be found scouring their local farm stands for the young, delicate stalks of the asparagus plant. Unfortunately, for some, the joys of eating asparagus tend to continue long after the last bite. For many, the flavor may have left the mouth, but the smell is far from out of sight. Many of you refer to what Im talking about as asparagus pee the sometimes overpowering olfactory assault that comes in the footsteps of asparagus consumption.
Why does asparagus pee happen?
Blame it on the methyl mercaptan, also known as methanethiol. This foul-smelling, colorless gas is thought to be the cause of the problem, but not in the manner you may think. It was once believed that the methanethiol in asparagus caused the uniquely-scented excretions only in individuals who possessed an enzyme able to digest it. If you had the enzyme allowing you to digest the sulfur compounds contained in asparagus (of which, one is methanethiol), youd experience the distinct odor upon urination. New research, however, now suggests that all humans may be capable of digesting and breaking down methanethiol the difference being that only some of us can actually smell it.
How can you prevent asparagus pee?
In the case of either theory, unfortunately, some of you will always be plagued with the strong smell of sulfur whenever you treat yourselves to a couple of raw, cooked or even pickled spears. That being said, there truly is no way of preventing the smell, except maybe a nose-plug or a well-ventilated restroom. Sorry folks. source: FoodRepublic If youve ever noticed a strange, not-entirely-pleasant scent coming from your urine after you eat asparagus, youre definitely not alone.
Distinguished thinkers as varied as Scottish mathematician and physician John Arbuthnot (who wrote in a 1731 book that asparagusaffects the urine with a foetid smell) and Marcel Proust (who wrote how the vegetable transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume) have commented on the phenomenon.
Even Benjamin Franklin took note, stating in a 1781 letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels that A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreable Odour (he was trying to convince the academy to To discover some Drugthat shall render the natural Discharges of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreable as Perfumesa goal that, alas, modern science has still not achieved).
But modern science has, at least, shed some light on why this one particular vegetable has such an unusual and potent impact on the scent of urine. Scientists tell us that the asparagus-urine link all comes down to one chemical: asparagusic acid.
Asparagusic acid, as the name implies, is (to our knowledge) only found in asparagus. When our bodies digest the vegetable, they break down this chemical into a group of related sulfur-containing compounds with long, complicated names (including dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl sulfoxide and dimethyl sulfone). As with many other substances that include sulfursuch as garlic, skunk spray and odorized natural gasthese sulfur-containing molecules convey a powerful, typically unpleasant scent.
All of these molecules also share another key characteristic: Theyre volatile, meaning that have a low enough boiling point that they can vaporize and enter a gaseous state at room temperature, which allows them to travel from urine into the air and up your nose. Asparagusic acid, on the other hand, isnt volatile, so asparagus itself doesnt convey the same rotten smell. But once your body converts asparagusic acid into these volatile, sulfur-bearing compounds, the distinctive aroma can be generated quite quicklyin some cases, its been detected in the urine of people who ate asparagus just 15-30 minutes earlier.
Of course, the whole asparagus-urine scent issue is complicated by an entire separate issue: Some people simply dont smell anything different when urinate after they eat asparagus. Scientists have long been divided into two camps in explaining this issue. Some believe that, for physiological reasons, these people (which constitute anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the population) dont produce the aroma in their urine when they digest asparagus, while others think that they produce the exact same scent, but somehow lack the ability to smell it.
On the whole, the evidence is mixed. Initially, a pair of studies conducted in the 1980s with participants from France and Israel found that everyone produced the characteristic scent, and that a minority of people were simply unable to smell it. People with the ability to detect the scent, though, were able to smell it even in the urine of those who couldnt smell it, indicating that the differences were rooted in perception, not production.
More recent studies, though, suggest the issue is a bit more complicated. The most recent study, from 2010, found that differences existed between individuals in both the production and detection of the scent.
Overall, scientists now conclude that most of the difference is in perceptionthat is, if your urine doesnt seem to smell any differently after you eat asparagus, its likely that you simply cant perceive the sulfurous compounds foul odor, but theres a small chance its because your body digests asparagus in a way that reduces the concentration of these chemicals in your urine.
Its still unclear why some people dont produce the smell, but we do seem to have a clear explanation of why some people dont perceive it. In 2010, the genetic sequencing company 23andMe conducted a study in which they asked nearly 10,000 customers if they noticed any scent in their urine after eating asparagus, and looked for genetic similarities among those who couldnt. This peculiaritywhich you might consider useful if you eat asparagus frequentlyappears to stem from a single genetic mutation, a switched base-pair among a cluster of 50 different genes that code for olfactory receptors.
Were still waiting for some enterprising team of scientists to attempt gene therapy to convert smellers into non-smellersbut given other priorities to use genetic modification to cure blindness and breast cancer, it seems likely that those suffering from asparagus-scented urine might have to wait a while. source: Smithsonianmag Don't y'all just HEART SimHQ?You can come here and discuss the latest Flight Sim and at the same time you can find out interesting scientific facts and the best thing about it? It's FREE!
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#4254993 - 05/02/16 08:56 AM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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Legend
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Asparagus oven dish with salmon - heaven on earth!
Or the all-time classic, asparagus with small potatoes, boiled ham, an egg and white sauce.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
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#4254994 - 05/02/16 08:59 AM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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Alicatt
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I have some chicken slices with asperges for lunch today, I'm really looking forward to having it Do you eat the green asparagus or the white? Here the fresh asparagus is white as it has not been allowed to grow in the light, it is really quite delicious and different from the green asparagus. Mostly we buy it straight from the farmer in his field rather than from the shops but it is still quite expensive yet at about 7euto per kg, 2 weeks ago it was over 8euro per kg but as supply ramps up the price comes down. The mother in law used to have a big plot of it in her garden but as she got deeper into her dementia she stopped growing it and the father in law dug up all the plants without letting anyone know.
Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil Sons of the hound come here and get flesh Clan Cameron
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#4255019 - 05/02/16 11:04 AM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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KraziKanuK
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We had a dog that would go out into the back yard and find and eat new asparagus shoots that were growing in the lawn. Would nip of the tops and go back later when the shoots had grown more. Whenever Mom went out with a knife she would be right with Mom as she knew Mom was going to cut some asparagus for supper. She never touched the asparagus in the garden.
OT Another dog we had would harvest carrots for herslf. Only the best tho as there would pulled carrots all along the row not eaten.
There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB. The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed. There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
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#4255041 - 05/02/16 12:25 PM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: Brun]
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Did that dog have peculiarly long ears and a fluffy tail? The asparagus dog was a Cocker Spaniel. The carrot loving dog was a Beagle/Collie mix and had a bit of a fluffy tail.
There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB. The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed. There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
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#4255073 - 05/02/16 02:04 PM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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Dart
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Measured in Llamathrusts
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Ah, that's nothing. The old Army ham slice had so many nitrates and preservatives in it that one's pee smelled like the ham slice did when eaten.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events. More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.comFrom Laser: "The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."
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#4255093 - 05/02/16 02:38 PM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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Beat the Kobayashi Maru
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Even my kids like it, grilled or quickly sauteed with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Probably think the pee thing is funny adding to it. LOL
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#4255235 - 05/02/16 08:32 PM
Re: Explained: why does eating asparagus makes some people's urine smell funny???
[Re: CG2015]
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Wireman
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CD WOFF
by Britisheh. 03/28/24 08:05 PM
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