Guest guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 The asparagus odor (not sure about cranberries) is caused by methyl mercaptan which is formed during the digestion process by the breakdown of a group of sulfurous amino acids. All people form and excrete methyl mercaptan, but some people are unable to smell it. This led to people believing for a long time that only people with a certain gene got " asparagus pee. " There was, however, a gene for detecting the odor of methyl mercaptan. The fact of the matter was just that people, understandably enough, were not in the habit of smelling each other's pee so they just took each other's word that asparagus did not make their pee stinky. If you noticed that the smell disappeared when you started using a certain type of water, chances are one of two things happened. Either the acuity of your sense of smell took a nose-dive (pun intended) that just happened to coincide with the water change, or more likely, the difference in the water (for good or ill, who knows...) interfered with the specific digestive breakdown process that normally creates the methyl mercaptan. Since the water differed by PH, it's not a real huge stretch to imagine that it might actually have slightly hindered the breakdown of the amino acids by the acid in your stomach. Wild speculation, of course.... Minneapolis -----Original Message----- From: Carmen [mailto:ctn@...] Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 1:46 PM Subject: RE: Alkaline Water I have noticed this same strange phenomenon when drinking cranberry juice. Carmen <<<<<<<<< But since drinking alkaline water, when I eat asparagus, I don't get this side effect. I'm curious why. I wonder if asparagus is very acidic which produces the smell, and the water neutralizes it. Any thoughts? >>>>>>>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 By the way, the study about people having universal methyl mercaptan formation was not conclusive. There is, apparently, disagreement on the point. I still find it plausible, however, that the water may have interfered with the process somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 I have noticed this same strange phenomenon when drinking cranberry juice. Carmen <<<<<<<<< But since drinking alkaline water, when I eat asparagus, I don't get this side effect. I'm curious why. I wonder if asparagus is very acidic which produces the smell, and the water neutralizes it. Any thoughts? >>>>>>>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 I just joined this list... could someone tell me what this convo was about thanks --- Carmen <ctn@...> wrote: > < <<<<<<< The asparagus odor (not sure about > cranberries) >>>>> > > No, no, no, lol. My urine doesn't smell like > cranberries....... The > cranberry juice cancelled out the asparagus smell > when I drank cranberry > juice and ate asparagus. > > Carmen > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 13, 2002 Report Share Posted February 13, 2002 < <<<<<<< The asparagus odor (not sure about cranberries) >>>>> No, no, no, lol. My urine doesn't smell like cranberries....... The cranberry juice cancelled out the asparagus smell when I drank cranberry juice and ate asparagus. Carmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 14, 2002 Report Share Posted February 14, 2002 Hi , This part of the convo is nothing of great significance. We were just rambling about the effect of ph on urine smell when we eat asparagus. Don't worry, we don't normally have such weird conversations. Welcome to the list. It's very informative and has a lot of great folks. C armen I just joined this list... could someone tell me what this convo was about thanks --- Carmen <ctn@...> wrote: > < <<<<<<< The asparagus odor (not sure about > cranberries) >>>>> > > No, no, no, lol. My urine doesn't smell like > cranberries....... The > cranberry juice cancelled out the asparagus smell > when I drank cranberry > juice and ate asparagus. > > Carmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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