asparagus

i figure as long as i'm in THAT frame of mind i would touch on a subject that i've noticed gets some discussion and that is, why does your pee smell funny after you eat asparagus? first of all i don't mean funny "ha-ha" i mean funny "strange" and apparently it doesn't happen to everyone. i decided to do a little fact checking and found out that about half the population develops an unusual odor in their urine after eating asparagus and it has something to do with asparagus having these sulfur containing amino acids that break down during digestion imparting the "unique" smell to the urine as it is excreted. according to a dietitian, Barbara Hodges, at Boston University's nutrition clinic, it is the same sulfur group of compounds that makes skunks smell the way they do. lovely right? there is apparently another group of thought, according to Dr. David Stollar, chairman of biochemistry at Tufts University Medical School, that believes everyone digests asparagus the same way, but only about half of us have a gene that enables us to smell the specific compounds formed in the digestion of asparagus. some dispute eh? it seems to me that the easiest way to work out the answer would just be to get a couple of thousand people together (that's probably a large enough study group for this), eat some asparagus and then have those people pee into cups and they all have to smell each one of the urine samples. if some of the people can smell the sulfur in a sample and some can't then that obviously means that the odor causing compounds are actually there but some of the people just cannot sense them and then in fact it just has to do with the fact that there are those of us (yes, i am one of those that can definitely smell the sulfur) that CAN smell the presence of the "unique" odor and some people cannot as opposed to the idea that some people will process the asparagus differently than others. on the other hand if all the people that smell the urine can sense the odor and those that cannot agree whether it is there or not then it obviously has nothing to do with some people being able to smell it or not and it just means that some people process the compounds differently than others. its definitely alot to go through for this, and not very pleasant either; but perhaps we could get some of those people that like to eat shit, or maybe some of their friends that like to smell piss, and get them all to do it and get their jollies at the same time! not to mention settling a scientific debate. asparagus also comes in two colors, the green most people are used to and a white variety, somewhat milder in flavor but just as smelly. in any case, asparagus is apparently one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables, plus it is also really delish. so eat your fill, join the debate and do your own test.