SC - Asparagus smell

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Olwen the Odd wrote:
> 
> > > Excites the Urinary passages???  So what causes the damn awful smell to
> >my
> > > urine whenever I eat fresh asparagus?
> > >
> > > Drakey.
> >
> >I'm sure I have this information somewhere, but the bottom line is that
> >everybody's urine has this chemical in it after eating asparagus, but
> >not everyone has the gene that enables them to smell it. You, like me,
> >are what Harold McGee has referred to, in the section of "On Food and
> >Cooking" that deals with this, a stinker. ;  )
> >
> >Adamantius
> 
> You confuse me.  Are you saying REALLY that some folks have a gene that can
> enable them to smell certain things and not others?  The only time that
> happens to me is during allergy seasons.
> Olwen, a stinker

Sorry if I was confusing; that was as clear as I knew how to be. Yeah,
that's exactly what I'm saying. Everybody produces the chemical,
including those that can't smell it. It's not about the urine, it's
about the individual's olfactory nerve bundles, or some such. Bear in
mind I'm not speaking as a doctor or anything, just a reader of a book
on food science that makes this assertion. On the other hand, there are
several sources for this information. 

Similar genetic irregularities would include, say, the ability to roll
one's tongue into a tube, which has nothing to do with skill; either you
can do it or you can't, or whether or not you're blind to certain colors.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com