Why your urine (and sweat) smells like onion and garlic: science behind smell
Garlic and onion sulfur compounds cause specific odors in breath, sweat and urine. The smell of these natural body varies with genetics and can be reduced by hydration and cooking.
In short
- Sulfur compounds in garlic and onion cause strong odor
- Elill methyl sulfide saves liver breakdown and sexers
- Exit through breath, sweat and urine
It began with a sniffing.
You are in the middle of a meeting, you shift a little on your seat and catch some suspects. Is this the smell of the body? Did you forget the deodorant? No, it’s something familiar. Something from lunch? Then it hits you: garlic. The same garlic which has made the taste of your pasta like heaven, has somehow circled, now gives your armpits smell like a spice rack. After that evening, your journey in the bathroom offers a similar surprise: your urine smells like a adjacent onion.
It sounds fun, even gross, but it is real. And you are not alone. Many of us have snatched these mysterious, food-based aroma on us a few hours after eating. But why does this happen? How does a harmless garlic clove affect your urine, sweat and breath?
Let’s break why some foods leave a permanent aroma after a long time after your plate cleanses. Criminal: Sulfur Compound
Onion, garlic, asparagus, cruciferous vegetables (such as cabbage and brockeli), and even coffee have volatile organic compounds, of which are sulfur-based. These are sulfur compounds that give garlic and onion their specific, sharp taste and smell. In garlic and onion, the show’s star is a compound called Alil methyl sulfide (AMS). The AMS is stubborn, unlike most food components that break down and disappear quickly or eliminate. It opposes breakdown in the liver, rotates in your bloodstream, and takes its sweet time except its system.
What happens in your body
Here is the step-by-step process:
- you eat food
- You cut that garlic naan or onion containing a salad, and your digestive system gets to work to break it.
- Sulfur compounds are absorbed
- During digestion, molecules containing AMS and other sulfur enter your bloodstream.
- The body tries to get rid of them
Because your liver cannot completely break them, your body uses alternative routes to eliminate them:
- Through the lungs, you get a breath of garlic or onion.
- Through the skin, you have a sweat that smells like food.
- Through the kidneys, you get urine that smells strangely.
This is why you can notice your urine (or your armpit), which is very familiar after a garlic or onion-water meal.
Why your urine makes strange fragrance
Urine is the way to remove your body waste, which can include additional compounds. When foods like garlic, onion, or asparagus are broken:
- By-products (such as AM or methyl mercapton) are emitted through urine.
- These are highly unstable, which means they evaporate easily and kill your nose rapidly.
- Even a small amount can result in a noticeable, strong smell.
- Some people are more sensitive to it due to genetic differences in metabolism or odor receptors.
Genetics: Not everyone smells it
Funny facts: Everyone can sniff the compounds of these odors in the urine. For example, with asparagus, about 40% of people have a deficiency of specific genes required to detect the odor in the urine. The same may apply to other sulfurus foods. So if you have never seen, you can only be genetically lucky (or nose-blind!).
Bothery
- Asparagus – Asparagus produces acid? Smell of funky urination
- Coffee – Dehydration and change the odor of urine
- Fish (especially choline -rich) – In rare cases can lead to a condition called Triimethillaminuria or “Fish odor syndrome”
- Cruciferus vegies (such as broccoli) – can add a sulfur edge to sweat
Can you do something about it?
Like What helps here:
- Hydration: Drinking more water can reduce the concentration of these compounds in your urine.
- Cooking: Ripe garlic and onions release compounds that cause lower smells than raw people.
- Parsley or Mint: They can help in mask odor in short term, but they do not prevent the body from emitting sulfur compounds.
So, should you worry?
Absolutely not. The smell of this type of body or urine smell is completely natural, and even a sign that your digestive system is doing its work. It can be unpleasant or embarrassing, but it is rarely a sign of anything wrong-until it is constantly and unrelated to food, in this case, a medical check can be a good idea.
You are what you eat (and what you smell)
The next time your urine or sweat smells like a curry shop, just remember: this is science. The compounds of those powerful plants are passing through the bus, talking about them. Your nose is just for riding.
