Elaine Ingram · ·
I love asparagus but I notice every time I eat it my urine smells a little different.
Blake Sabri · ·
There's a bit of debate whether it's an amino acid asparagine or sulfur containing substances called methyl mercaptan. One of my cook books says that if someone lacks the enzyme to break down asparagine, their urine will have a strong odour. Nonetheless, there doesn't appear to be any danger/harm in the change of smell in urine.
Matthew Biggs's Complete Book of Vegetables, page 45
Sherry Steel · ·
Asparagus contains a compound called mercaptan which is also naturally found in cheese. Mercaptan has a sulphury type smell, similar to cabbage gone off or eggs. When this is excreted from your body in your urine it changes the smell of your urine as quickly as 10 to 15 minutes after you eat the asparagus. It was once thought that not everyone excretes mercaptan in their urine (and hence not everyone has odd smelly urine after eating asparagus), but we now know that some people just can't smell it properly.
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Russell Oz: In fact it seems that it's not as simple as some people smelling it and some people not. It seems there are four types of people - people who excrete mercaptan and smell it, people who excrete mercaptan and don't smell it, people who don't excrete mercaptan but can smell it in other peoples urine (eww) and people who don't excrete it and can't smell it either. Source: Nutritionfacts.org (nutritionfacts.org/videos/asparag ...)
2 months ago