{"id":471,"date":"2009-05-29T14:54:19","date_gmt":"2009-05-29T14:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/05\/asparagus-whats-that-smell.html"},"modified":"2009-05-29T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2009-05-29T14:54:19","slug":"asparagus-whats-that-smell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/05\/asparagus-whats-that-smell.html","title":{"rendered":"Asparagus: What’s That Smell?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"asparagus.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Asparagus: it’s a sure harbinger of spring, a green, nutritious purveyor of vitamins A, C, and K,<\/strong> plus folate, iron, and fiber.  Steamed, roasted, or grilled, skinny or thick-stemmed–its subtle, distinctive flavor is truly delicious.<\/p>\n

Until you have to go wee-wee, that is, at which point you are confronted with a harmless genetic abnormality that affects around half of us human beings.<\/p>\n

On this Foodie Friday, as asparagus is just blossoming into its peak season, I want to offer an explanation for the “smelly pee” phenomenon that many of you recognize well.  The studies I came across mostly agree that the culprit is a compound found in asparagus called methyl mercaptan <\/span>that is only released when subject to human digestive enzymes.<\/p>\n

Ready for an asparagus fun fact?  Methyl mercaptan is the same compound that gives skunk spray its distinctive, um, odor.  So when your urine smells like rotten eggs, think fondly of Pepe Le Pew and don’t worry–if anything, the odor shows that your kidneys and digestive system are in proper working order!  <\/p>\n

(image via: http:\/\/www.worldcommunitycookbook.org\/season\/guide\/asparagus.html<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asparagus: it’s a sure harbinger of spring, a green, nutritious purveyor of vitamins A, C, and K, plus folate, iron, and fiber.  Steamed, roasted, or grilled, skinny or thick-stemmed–its subtle, distinctive flavor is truly delicious. Until you have to go wee-wee, that is, at which point you are confronted with a harmless genetic abnormality that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,72],"tags":[506,507,508,135],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-holly-lebowitz-rossi","category-food","tag-asparagus","tag-asparagus-smell","tag-asparagus-urine","tag-foodie-friday"],"yoast_head":"\nAsparagus: What's That Smell? - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/05\/asparagus-whats-that-smell.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asparagus: What's That Smell? - Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Asparagus: it’s a sure harbinger of spring, a green, nutritious purveyor of vitamins A, C, and K, plus folate, iron, and fiber.  Steamed, roasted, or grilled, skinny or thick-stemmed–its subtle, distinctive flavor is truly delicious. 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}