Asparagus poll [Matthew's Journal]

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I'm sorry if you consider this TMI, but I'm interested. Asparagus is generally held to make urine smell funny. Does it do this to yours? (or, perhaps, do you smell the effect is has?)

[Poll #1166852]

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There are 21 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Doesn't do anything to mine, but the spouse does suffer from stinky pee after asparagus.

We eat it anyway.

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Hm, interesting. ISTR reading that everybody's pee contains the same potentially smelly chemical but only some of the population can smell it.

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Not that funny smelling pee would ever stop me munching through a large pile of asparagus if offered.

Large amounts of broccoli have the same effect, but it has to be a LOT of broccoli.

Oh, and while we're here, drinking coffee makes my pee smell of coffee.

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Oooh oooh!

From here:

"The odour is often described as the smell of rotten or boiling cabbage, or even ammonia, and is believed to be due to the presence of methyl mercaptan, also known as methanethiol, which is a sulphur containing derivative of the amino acid methionine.

Allison and McWhirter first showed that the ability to produce methyl mercaptan after eating asparagus is not universal.4 Some people would produce detectable amounts in the urine after eating only three or four spears of asparagus, while others would produce none even after eating as much as one pound (0.45 kg) of asparagus. In their random sample of 115 human subjects, they demonstrated that this ability occurred in about 40% of the population, with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern."

That's so cool! Like tongue rolling, ear lobes and tasting that yucky stuff in paper! :D :D

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That's funny. Wikipedia claims that everyone produces the compounds, but only 40% of people can smell them.

I should check references on Monday and maybe edit ;)

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Apparently it also makes other bodily fluids taste unpleasant, for the same reason...

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Aye, this effect is well documented in many places.

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This is what I have heard....

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I tend not to sniff at my pee so if it changes it's not very strong.
My stool turns blood red when I have eaten beetroot, though.

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You need an option which says "Not that I've ever noticed, but that doesn't mean it doesn't smell"!

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I notice the smell from where I'm standing, as it were...

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I discussed this once with a "non-smeller" who was curious as to why I sniffed my own wee - a few of us pointed out to her that you don't need to make an active effort to smell it, it's strong enough that you just do.

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You need an option that says "I think asparagus is yechhy and try not to eat it, so I wouldn't know." ;)

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Yes, although I took the insensitive-clod option to mean that.

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I'd be in the same category but I used the "I don't know" option.

I notice changes in smell as a result of other food - garlic being the main one.

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Although I wouldn't say I noticed every time after recent consumption of asparagus

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I don't know, but ever since I first heard about this, it's kinda put me off eating asparagus. Like that Game I just lost, it's one of these things it's hard to keep out of your head when you're trying specifically not to think about it, if you follow me. And it's hard to eat something when you're wondering what it's going to make your pee smell like.

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Asparagus is yummy, though! And just coming into season!

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I answered yes - however, since I got pregnant my sence of smell has improved dramatically (this is a well-documented common side-effect of pregnancy). Now, I've only noticed it since I became pregnant. I'm assuming that is due to the improved sense of smell, but it's plausible that it's only started happening since I became pregnant.

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Never knowingly eaten asparagus, but lasagne makes my pee smell funny.

That is all.

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I share grandfathers with someone who has answered this poll already, and... well let's just say "I Did Not Know That".

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Matthew's Journal

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October