Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:39:27 -0800
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject: Re: Cold weather camping, heating, etc.
In-Reply-To: <003e01c1628c$b25f0640$da47530c@pavilion>
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on 31/10/01 8:21 PM, Karl Wolz at wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET wrote:
> Admittedly my organic chemistry classes occurred 20+ years ago, but I
> remember butyl (or methyl) mercaptan as being what gives the lovely odor to
> one's liquid waste after eating asparagus and crotonaldehyde as the main
> component of a skunk's stench. (One remains up on this sort of thing when
> living with Karl.)
>
> Stephanie
>
Stephanie,
see interesting article below. its not Karl's fault that his pee stinks
after eating 'sparagus, its your fault that you can smell it :)
Alistair
Why Asparagus Makes Your Pee Stink
by Hannah Holmes
"This is of no practical importance," the urologist tells me. "It wasn't
part of my training. It's something we contemplated over pizza and beer."
When I admit that I have actually timed the arrival of the distinctive odor
in my pee after eating asparagus (about 15 minutes), the good doctor
suggests, facetiously, that my groundbreaking research might lead to a
tenure-track position at a fine university.
It is a sadly neglected field. But I'm not the first to ask.
In 1891 a scientist named "Nencki" had so very little to do that he
convinced four guys to eat seven kilograms of asparagus (that's about three
and a half pounds each). He collected the pertinent pee, worked some
medieval magic on it, and concluded that the smell was due to a metabolite
called methanethiol.
So there you go. Nencki claimed that as your body metabolizes asparagus, it
produces this smelly chemical, which your discriminating kidneys see fit to
dump into the bladder.
This probably doesn't qualify as red-hot science, but it's warm enough to
spark differing opinions.
In 1975 a chemist from California claimed in Science that gas chromatography
had fingered a different culprit: S-Methyl Thioesters, to be precise. No
methanethiol.
Then there's the 1980 reference in the British Medical Journal that simply
refers to "metabolites." Another asparagus scholar favors "six
sulfur-containing compounds."
I'm voting for methanethiol, partly because the guy who did the gas
chromatography left no forwarding address, and partly because the
methanethiol entry in my aging Merck Index of chemicals is so interesting.
Methanethiol is composed mostly of sulfur with a splash of hydrogen, plus
some carbon, a brew famous for its effect in rotten eggs, cabbages and paper
mills. Convincing, no? Merck also notes the asparagus connection and, most
intriguing, warns that methanethiol may be a narcotic in high
concentrations.
Now if you're scowling at your screen and muttering, "My pee doesn't smell
like asparagus," first ask yourself if you eat asparagus.
Even if you do but lack the smell, you're still OK. In fact the fabulously
funny book, The ReSearch Guide to Body Fluids (by Paul Spinrad, Juno Books,
N.Y., 1994), says just 22 percent of survey respondents experience asparagus
pee.
Early investigators thought genetics had divided the world into stinkers and
nonstinkers. That was until 1980, when three researchers had the presence of
mind to wave pee from the nonstinkers under the noses of the stinkers.
Lo and behold, the problem proved to be one not of producing the stinky pee
but of being able to sniff it out.
If you've been deprived of this gift, don't give up hope. To increase the
concentration of methanethiol molecules available to your snoot, you could
either intentionally dehydrate yourself before you dine (this is
unhealthful); or pee into a cup and sniff that. Or eat three and a half
pounds of asparagus for lunch.
And if you experience a narcotic effect, you could be looking at a
tenure-track position at a fine university.
Vocabulary Asparagus fleet, n. Roman emperors were so fond of asparagus,
which probably originated near the Mediterranean, that they kept special
boats for the purpose of fetching it.
Hannah Holmes sniffs out answers to life's oddities in Portland, Maine.
She's a regular contributor to Discovery Channel Online and also writes for
Escape, Outside, Sierra, Backpacker, Eco Traveler and Women's Sports and
Fitness. Write her at skinny@online.discovery.com.
