It’s one of the oldest of old wives’ tales – that asparagus makes your urine smell bad. And now scientists have finally got to the bottom of it. Kinda.
After extensive research, including plenty of asparagus consumption and pee smelling, scientists have sort of confirmed some of the things we already know.
Asparagus can affect the smell of your pee, and you may be able to smell it – but either outcome will depend on the person.
In other words, some people’s pee smells after asparagus but not all people’s, and some people can smell it and some people can’t.
It also appears that both traits are genetic, meaning that families debating the smell of their pee (presumably at dinner over a plate of delicious asparagus) might come to the same conclusions.
Overall when all the ‘can’, ‘may’ and ‘could’ is added up, it appears that only 22 per cent of people are able to smell the influence of asparagus in their own urine.
The long and detailed study can be found here, including plenty of graphs and data breaking down everything you ever needed to know about asparagus and pee.
