In the past several years, new gene technology has reopened research into the sulfurous odor of urine after eating asparagus, often described as smelling like boiling or rotting cabbage. Research suggests that individuals may differ in their ability to both produce and smell this odor, and that there may be a specific gene responsible for this ability to smell asparagus pee.
It seems that individuals vary in both their ability to produce and smell the asparagus odor in urine. Genes may be responsible for the ability to smell the odor, but genes haven’t been found to be responsible for producing it (at least not yet). The practical application of this genetic variation is unknown, but the topic has been of interest to humans for centuries.
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Read the full, original story here: A Gene for Smelling Asparagus in Urine?
