Asparagus Pee: Why Can't Everyone Smell It?

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There is no doubt in the fact that everyone's pee smells like Asparagus after they have eaten it. Interestingly, only some people get the smell in their pee, while others don't.

Usually, when people eat something, the food gets digested as different enzymes break down the food. In case of asparagus, the digestion process doesn't take place since the compounds are volatile. This is released in the urine, giving it a strong and pungent smell. In fact, it is this smell that people get when they release their urine.

According to Dr. Anish Seth of Princeton Medical Group, if some people complain they have never experienced asparagus pee, it is because they are incapable to detect such odor. The accepted fact is that the smell is there, it is just that those people aren't able to smell it.

He further added that the digestive process is constant in every person, but the ability to detect odors vary from one person to another. This is one of the primary reasons as why some people can smell the asparagus pee, while other's don't. Dr. Anish Seth also explained that just like the sense of color, the sense of smell is completely personal.

In another case, a Biology professor, Dr. Ian Davidson claimed that the experience of different smell is absolutely unique and the inability to smell asparagus pee is a situation of anosmia. This is a situation where some nose can't detect any smell.

A small study was conducted whereby 38 people were asked to eat asparagus and pee. They were then asked to smell their own pee as well as each other's to detect any strange odor. Almost 8 percent of the people were not able to detect any odourant, while 6 percent of the participants claimed they didn't smell any asparagus, at all.

The study showed that there were no particular genes responsible for it, but the odor was linked DNA sequences which vary from one person to another. In simple words, just a slight change in the molecule of the genes might be responsible for the ability or inability to smell asparagus in pee.