Asparagus Pee

Sorry to be so indelicate in the morning, but there's no better way to say it. Have you heard of it? I hadn't until last night.

As part of a meal I provided for our Sunday night cell group (life group, small group, whatever your pleasure) of about 7 families, I made a large salad containing blanched asparagus. As the women were sitting around the table (guys opted for the deck out back) one friend, a nurse, posed the Q, "Have you ever heard of asparagus pee?"

Uh, No. Perhaps there's something about Junior A. that we don't know--and don't WANT to know ....

Apparently, there is a chemical compound in asparagus that triggers a sulphur-like smell in urine within minutes to an hour after eating. It's the same sulphur as in rotten eggs and skunk "parfum." Mmmmm.

Here's another interesting factoid: Not everyone can smell the odious excretion. Those who can smell it have DNA that has a specific gene which acts as a sort of "stink bomb" receptor.

Perhaps you are one of those blessed with just such an amazingly sharp DNA code. In my case, the DNA appears to be "dull," a complete blessing of omission, and that affords me yet another entry into the ol' gratitude journal: "Unable to smell asparagus pee."