Strong urine smell after eating asparagus? Why?

Strong urine smell …Do you recognize it too? You just ate those tasty asparagus and an hour later your urine has a pungent smell?

Is this normal?

Yes it is! Both white and green asparagus contain a certain acid, namely asparagusine, which your body has to process.

But where does that immense smell come from?…sulphur, sulphurous urine is the answer.

When processing the acids, sulfur compounds are created, which your body also has to process through the kidneys and leave your body through the urine. At that point, your urine contains almost a thousand times more sulfur than normal! Hence this penetrating smell.

So it is a sulfur that your body makes to process the acids that are in the asparagus and you just pee it out again.

Should this sound strange to you and have you never experienced a strange smell when eating asparagus? That’s possible… Apparently, according to a study, almost 60% of the population would not be bothered by this. They may have a gene mutation on the first chromosome that makes it genetically impossible for them to smell the urine odor. They can therefore produce this odor, but do not smell it themselves. The medical term for this is “anosmia”.

Conclusion: strong urine smell or not…asparagus remains a source of healthy nutrients!

Here are some recipes with asparagus:

White asparagus soup with basil and coconut cream

White asparagus in papillot with parsley butter

Green asparagus pie with puffed garlic

Caramelized white asparagus with nut dressing