Friday, April 19, 2002

Does your pee stink after eating asparagus?

If you said 'no', you're wrong!

Like about half of the population, my piss really stinks after eating asparagus. Even if I eat just one or two spears of the stuff, there will be a noticeable smell as soon as half an hour after eating. If, as I did last night, I eat an entire bunch of the stuff, the stench is overpowering. And it lasts for up to a day.

If I'm completely honest, the smell is actually fairly pleasant. Like many bodily odours, it's OK when it's your own. I'm not the only one to think this: Gabriel Garcia Marquez in "Love in the Time of Cholera" writes: "he enjoyed the immediate pleasure of smelling a secret garden in his urine that had been purified by lukewarm asparagus.". Marcel Proust wrote: "...my greatest pleasure was the asparagus, bathed in ultramarine and pink and whose spears, delicately brushed in mauve and azure, fade imperceptibly to the base of the stalk... the precious essence that I would still recognize when, all night following a dinner where I had eaten them, they played in their crude, poetic farces, like one of Shakespeare's fairies, at changing my chamberpot into a bottle of perfume."

As I say, this effect is only noticed by half of the population. I had always believed that there is a gene that some of us have, which somehow breaks down the asparagus, causing the smell. I thought this gene was called 'asparagene'.

Wrong and wrong again, it seems.

Asparagine is actually the name of an amino acid and has nothing to do with the smell. Asparagus contains several sulphur-derived amino acids which break down during digestion into Methyl Mercaptan - the stuff that makes rotten eggs and skunks stink - and a couple of other mysterious amino acids.

Latest research suggests that everybody's piss smells after eating asparagus. But not everyone can smell it.

So, yes, it is a genetic thing, but it is the ability to smell it which is controlled by the gene.

Next in this series: Think your shit doesn't stink? Think again, buddy!

77 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sgn31D The best blog you have!

Anonymous said...

OhHQOU Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Good job!

Anonymous said...

Good job!

Anonymous said...

Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

H3PGSs write more, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

Please write anything else!

Anonymous said...

Please write anything else!

Anonymous said...

Magnific!

Anonymous said...

Magnific!

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

Magnific!

Anonymous said...

Good job!

Anonymous said...

Please write anything else!

Anonymous said...

Magnific!

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

Anonymous said...

C++ should have been called B

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Calvin, we will not have an anatomically correct snowman!

Anonymous said...

Save the whales, collect the whole set

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

Calvin, we will not have an anatomically correct snowman!

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

Beam me aboard, Scotty..... Sure. Will a 2x10 do?

Anonymous said...

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

Anonymous said...

C++ should have been called B

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81