Slightly embarassing question...
 

Hi everybody. I've noticed that my urine sometimes smells like cereal after I've eaten it. I've read on the Internet where eating asparagus, and even coffee can change the smell of urine, but I can't find anything about grain. I remember when I was a kid, my urine would always smell like cereal when I would eat Sugar Smacks (sweetened & puffed wheat cereal). This also just happened to me yesterday after eating brown rice cereal with fruit juice instead of milk. The only ingredients in the cereal are brown rice flour, brown rice syrup, and sea salt. Have any of you experienced or heard about what might cause this?

Thanks,
Jenny

Oh, don't be embarrassed! We LOVE talking about body functions here! :D

I have not noticed or heard of that but am now extremely interested! I have not heard of anyone saying this before. Sometimes though, when one person notices something and posts it, they get other people piping up and saying... "Gee, I hadn't noticed but you're right, that symptom went away for me too!"

I will keep my eyes posted for anything and let you know if I find anything at all. I look forward to seeing what answers you receive. :)

I have definitely experienced the asparagus thing, and wait for it every time I eat asparagus:D . I guess there are occasions that I've noticed other 'off' odors, but nothing that I've ever associated with any certain other food.

Cara

I've also noticed certain times when my urine smells 'funny'. I dismissed it as being just the result of maybe not having drunk enough that day, but I'll start to pay attention now and see if it has any connection to diet.
Hugs,

Some vitamins can make urine smell funnny too.

I am always amazed how fast the asparagus reaction is. It has to get all the way to the kidneys. I wonder where in the GI track this compound gets absorbed?
Anne

It probably has something to do with not getting enough liquid in my diet. I need to be drinking more water. At least it doesn't happen all the time; only once in a while after having eaten quite a bit of grain.

Thanks for your responses :-)

Now, don't quote me on this but my husband said he read somewhere that it is a gene thing...some people get this way with asparagus and some don't. So we chatted with a few people and sure enough some never heard of this problem and others are very familiar.

Jenny!

Count me in. Puffed wheat pee, oh yeah!

I used ta love puffed wheat. Was weaned off of Carnation canned milk formula as a baby, right onto puffed wheat. Growing up we'd make "puffed wheat cake" -- more like a candy, & sit down & eat 8 cups of candied PW, the whole batch, in one sitting, my DB & me. On the prairies in Canada growning up we could buy PW in these huge sacks you could swing over your shoulders.

I remember those Puffed Wheat Cake binges had a definite drug-like effect. Between the sugar & the gluten, I would get totally blissed out. Oh, sorry, that's not the point. Yes, I did get the aromatic urine.

Sugar Smacks do the same thing for me. Very distinctive, not a bad smell, but definitely wheat.

Certain "bad fats" like microwave popcorn transfats give a nasty funk to urine, IMO. Haven't had that in ages.

But I've eaten Erewhon Rice Crisps, GF, and haven't noticed anything. Could it maybe be dose-related? Like a larger serving makes it more noticeable? I'm not as fond of Erewhon as I was of PW. Or -- could it be that a healed gut lets less of the grain ... something or other into the bloodstream? After all, what comes out in urine has to have been filtered through the kidneys. Dare I even ponder the possibility of a nonleaky gut?

Best wishes.

I think dosing is definitely key. It seems when I only have a little cereal I don't have a problem. But when I have a lot, that's when I notice it. I've lately been eating 2 rice cakes a day and have been smelling the "cereal" smell in my urine. I wonder if the process of puffing cereal grains might have something to do with it.?.

Could be something with that puffing process. Pre-GF days I could eat a lot of whole wheat flour in bread & other baked goods & not notice the same effect as from the puffed wheat.

I eat lots of rice these days, typically 3 c. cooked rice per day, & haven't noticed the cereal aroma from that.

Makes ya wonder what it could be ... my understanding is that the puffing process is sort of like using a pressure cooker? Maybe the heat & pressure denature the wheat germ/rice germ & their oils, then the denatured oils cause the aroma ... like the transfats in microwave popcorn.

Happy detecting!