Asparagus Syndrome

[steepholm]

I dreamed last night that a relative of mine was taken forcibly to hospital on account of his strange-smelling urine. I was running after the doctor, shouting "You don't understand! It's just that we ate asparagus for supper!"

The doctor turned and in my dream he looked at me with a dreadful blankness. And it came into my mind that he didn't know about the asparagus-and-urine thing.

My dream arose from eating it myself last night, of course, and also reading the asparagus Wiki page a few months ago, where I learned that the ability to detect the change in odour was not universal. Apparently it's a genetic thing, limited to about 22% of the population.

Which leads me, naturally, to ask:

[Poll #1830587]

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I'm told that there is a difference, but (a) I don't notice it, and (b) I'm not very clear why some people think this is a reason to avoid asparagus (at least one person has told me that he does so).

[joyeuce]

I notice a very clear difference, but my husband claims he doesn't; I might now believe him if only 22% of the population can tell!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Fwiw and given that I don't eat meat, I believe that tinned products like corned beef, which contain nitrates as a preservative can cause a very distinctive odour when finally excreted.