Revealed: The Surprising Foods That Make Your Urine Smell Funny (And It’s NOT Just Asparagus and Coffee)

Sharp pee can be caused by dehydration, a urinary tract infection (UTI), or even the use of certain medications.

But certain foods and drinks can also make your urine smell funny. And it’s not just coffee and asparagus.

Garlic, onions and cabbage could also be the culprits, MailOnline explains…

If you’re healthy and hydrated, your urine should be clear or pale yellow and have a mild odor, says London-based NHS GP Dr Hana Patel.

“There are things that can often make your urine smell stronger,” she said.

‘And the most common reason is that you may not be drinking enough.

‘There are also certain foods and drinks that can make your urine smell, such as asparagus or coffee. This also applies to some medications and vitamin B6 supplements.

Asparagus is known to produce a pong, albeit a harmless one.

The smell is caused by the breakdown of asparagus acid, Dr. Patel explains.

“Up to 50 percent of people experience this as something that bothers them when they eat asparagus,” she says.

When this is digested, it produces compounds such as methanethiol, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl sulfone.

These contain sulfur, a chemical found in skunk spray that gives rotten eggs their putrid odor.

The body cannot break down these compounds, so they are excreted in the urine, where they give off a unique stench.

But green vegetables aren’t the only food that can cause an odor.

“Foods that are converted into sulfur compounds in your body can make your urine smell rotten,” Dr. Patel said.

‘This smell is often compared to rotten cabbage or rotten eggs and can come from eating asparagus, garlic and onions, Brussels sprouts, coffee, nuts and fennel, curry and spices in curry.’

Foods containing sulfur compounds may also be responsible for ‘bad breath’, Dr Duane Mellor told MailOnline. It’s also for this reason that cutting onions can make you cry, says the Aston University dietitian.

“As we break down and digest these compounds, they can also add a faint odor to our urine if we eat a lot of them,” he added.

If you want to reduce the odor, you can dilute it by drinking plenty of water.

Anything that dehydrates you can also make your urine smell.

That’s because your urine – of which we produce up to 2 liters per day – is made up of water and the chemical byproducts that leave your body.

When dehydrated, the mixture of water and such chemicals becomes more concentrated, making the odor stronger.

“The concentrated waste makes your urine smell stronger,” Dr. Patel said.

‘Ammonia is a waste product in the urine. On most days you probably won’t notice its smell in your urine.

‘However, with dehydration, the ammonia concentration increases, which makes your urine smell stronger.’

Eating too many salty foods can also make your pee sharp, experts say.

‘It is unlikely that salt in the urine will directly change the odor,’ Chris Blick, a urological surgeon based in London, told MailOnline.

‘However, salt can dehydrate us even more. This in turn makes the urine sharper.’

By the same logic, drinking too much alcohol or coffee can have the same effect on the smell of your urine. Both are diuretics.

‘Coffee contains hundreds of chemicals, including antioxidants called polyphenols, which are responsible for its smell. Many of these are excreted in the urine,” says Mr Blick.

‘If people are dehydrated these can be more noticeable.

“Although coffee-smelling urine is harmless, if this is the case, you may want to consider drinking less coffee or increasing your water intake to prevent dehydration,” he added.

In some cases, unusually smelling urine may indicate a disease or infection, which can be worsened by alcohol.

“Alcohol can make your urine more acidic and irritate the lining of your bladder,” Dr. Patel said. This acidity, she claims, can worsen the symptoms of the urinary tract infection, which can also give your urine an ammonia odor.

‘If you have other symptoms, such as painful urination, urinating more often than normal, or urine that looks cloudy in color, you may have a urinary tract infection (UTI). I recommend that you discuss further with your GP. Dr Patel added.

‘Very sweet-smelling urine can be a sign of diabetes and fishy-smelling urine can indicate an infection,’ explains Mr Bick.