Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I know that there's been a question posted earlier about Smelly Urine, but I feel my situation is different.

In the past couple weeks, my urine has developed a rather strong odor, akin to a kind of mustiness (if I ever wanted to mark territory, I'd be doing it with this stuff). Once it a while I also get a smell similar to hydrolyzed proteins (think strong salty chicken broth, or yeast extract/Luria Broth for those in the biological sciences). My urine is also almost always colored (yellow with a hint of brown), although I'm not really that thirsty, and drinking a lot of water just yields a lot of urine with a fainter smell and color.

My questions are:

Why the recent addition of scent to my urine?
Is the occasional scent of hydrolyzed protein mean that I'm excreting protein?
Is there something wrong with my kidneys?
Now that I think of it, could sauerkraut be adding scent to my urine?

Diet:

Haven't changed anything that correlated with the odoriferous urine, as it started two or more weeks back. In general, I eat low carb, 60 or so carbs per day, but I eat 100g two meals prior to weight training. I also eat fruit probably twice a week. Typical meals consist of 300g ground beef/pork along with 50g butter and some sauerkraut, although I eat spinach with some, and make stews with chicken/turkey occasionally. I've pretty much ate this way for the past month or two.

Recently I'm adding in carrots, and switching from sauerkraut to something else, like fresh cabbage or more spinach.

Edit:
In regards to ketosis, I've been in deeper keto before, and haven't had this scent of urine before. It doesn't really smell acetone-y, or like any ketone bodies that I'm familiar with. Also, the past couple days I've been eating four to six carrots a day, along with fruit on Thursday, and this morning I ate approximately 20g of sugar in a chocolate bar, which hasn't affected to odor. This makes me think that it's not necessarily affected by my state of keto, although I'll test with ketostix later - I still have them from my VLC/keto days.

Resolved
Turns out I switched brands from conventional to organic sauerkraut. I stopped eating the organic stuff and the scent went away.

edited Feb 7 2012 at 18:33

asked Feb 4 2012 at 9:37

Bristlebeard
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	I have this, too, so I'm really glad you posted this question. I eat a lot of ground beef, leafy greens, and sauerkraut (but I just ran out of sauerkraut, so I'll see if it goes away with it). I eat a similar amount of carb as you, but thought that wasn't low enough to get into ketosis enough to smell the acetone urine (and the smell isn't like acetone, but more like Luria broth, like you state above). – Sara S. Feb 4 2012 at 14:14
	I'm starting to get a suspicion that it's the sauerkraut, although I haven't eaten any all day, and yet I still have the odor. – Bristlebeard Feb 4 2012 at 17:43
	OP: nice word :) – Michael Nov 5 at 10:30

Jerry · Answer 1 · 2012-11-05 09:47:53Z UTC

Do you drink a, lot of milk? L- tryptophan can add a strong turkey fat like smell to your urine. This essential amino acid is present in small quantities whenever protein is broken down... Your body can not make it, so it comes from foods like milk, evgs, and poultry, whose proteins have a much higher percentage of it than we need to synthesize our protein. The excess goes out in the urine, and hence the smell... It is harmless.

JeJ · Answer 2 · 2012-02-07 19:06:47Z UTC

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Check your foods for nitrates!

answered Feb 7 2012 at 19:06

JeJ
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	I only eat food with nitrates probably once to twice a week, with it being some form of smoked sausage. So I'd say I'm pretty nitrate-free. – Bristlebeard Feb 12 2012 at 7:30
	hey JeJ, how would this work? – Michael Nov 5 at 10:31
	Maybe the chemists will weigh in, but I used to babysit a kid that when she ate a lot of that crap preserved nitrate-bomb dried mango or lots of crap pepperoni, she would smell so weird and her diaper was a very strong smell. Since that was the main change in her diet, I thought it was probably related. – JeJ Nov 8 at 2:21

BearBruce · Answer 3 · 2012-02-04 15:49:03Z UTC

I would agree that you are likely in a high state of ketosis. You are eating very low carbs, so if you are working to shred fat, that is great. However, since your urine color is very yellow, you should increase your water intake. This will help your kidneys flush out more toxins and fat. Drink enough until your urine is clear again.

Joshua · Answer 4 · 2012-02-04 13:33:10Z UTC

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Have you also included any asparagus by any chance? The chemicals released in urine when eating asparagus will give a very strong odor.

Cabbage tends to have similar compounds, albeit nowhere near as strong.

However, what it sounds like to me, is a high acid ketosis. When I first decided to go very, very low carb, after 2 weeks or so I had very acidic smelling BO and Urine. It only went away when I took out the high protein/low fat foods and started eating considerably more fat. If you are getting too much protein (over 2gm/lb LBM) then there is a good chance that is contributing as well.

Finally, do you take any medications? Oral steroids specifically can do what you are describing.

answered Feb 4 2012 at 13:33

Joshua
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I'll second the Keto urine possibity. Grab some keto stix from the pharmacy and you'll be able to confirm or rule that out quickly and cheaply. – Pete Feb 4 2012 at 15:05

I'm very well acquainted with asparagus-urine, and I haven't eaten any in over 6 months. In regards to keto, I'm keeping my protein at 1g/lb bodyweight, which is less than what I ate 4 months ago, which was closer to 1.5 or 1.75g/lb bodyweight. I'll give the added fat a shot, although I'm already eating 170g or so per day. And no medications, I just take fish oil, magnesium and cod liver oil. – Bristlebeard Feb 4 2012 at 16:25

When you say "high acid ketosis", do you mean blood acidification? – Bristlebeard Feb 4 2012 at 16:29

@Bristlebeard - at 170gm of fat a day, I don't think that's your issue. Have you been tested for kidney function? How often are you taking CLO? – Joshua Feb 4 2012 at 16:30

@Bristlebeard - no, I just mean a higher PH from protein excretion. During a particularly bad phase of n=1 experimentation on a PSMF, I was eating about 450gm of protein a day and it felt like I was pissing hot coffee, it was very dark and smelly as well. – Joshua Feb 4 2012 at 16:31

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Odoriferous, Musty Urine

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