Asparagus: A Doctor's Perspective
Around our home, it's just not Spring until that tender, sweet vegetable that is asparagus pokes up through the newly warming earth. For some, those delicate tips usher in a season of fresh dining and outdoor grilling, but for others the thought of the dreaded 'asparagus-induced urine odor' forces them to pass on our Spring delight. Why does asparagus cause smelly urine? It's a very common question that has sparked many a wives' tale....so, if you've ever wondered, here's the real story about asparagus and smelly urine.
Asparagus contains a unique acid, appropriately named 'asparagusic acid', found only in this delicious vegetable. When asparagus gets processed for elimination, the asparagusic acid is broken down into 6 different sulfur-containing compounds with varying intensities and types of smells ranging from sweet to pungent. The way these compounds are used by the body dictates the predominant odor that we may experience. This is why some people experience a pungent, ammonia type odor while a small, yet lucky few, enjoy a more perfumed fragrance. It also seems that the younger the asparagus, the more asparagusic acid, and therefore, the more intense the odor.
Recent research has proven that asparagus urine odor is universal among us humans, however, our ability to smell the odor is determined by our genes! Believe it or not, one such study has concluded that only 22% of the population has the gene necessary to smell any of the compounds present in urine. So, if you're one of the lucky 22%, you've identified a very unique talent, albeit it one you may wish to leave off your resume. Either way, asparagus is a great source of iron, folic acid, thiamine (Vitamin B1) and dietary fiber....so eat up and maybe hold your nose!!
Dr. Saxena is a frequent contributor to the Fresh Living blog at BeliefNet.com. For daily health tips, inspiration and wellness, visit the Fresh Living blog.
Wh ole Grains Are Feel-Good Foods
Whole grains are undoubtedly the latest and greatest marketing trend among food manufacturers. Gone are the 'Fat Free' and 'Low Carb' labels plastered all over our food. What I find is that this 'trend' is right in line with the groundswell of healthy eating that is sweeping our country, and yes, they're good for you and make you feel good!
The craze of the Red Bull, Power Bar, Gatorade days crashed both literally and figuratively. These types of carbohydrates are known as simple sugars and convert to glucose (the body's energy currency) very quickly. This quick conversion leads to a rather steep spike in blood sugar. And just like Newton predicted, whatever goes up must come down. Unfortunately, when it comes to blood sugar the steeper the spike, the faster the crash that follows. So these simple sugars give us a quick burst of energy, but leave us feeling tired- not to mention the bloating that often accompanies sugary foods.
Whole grains like bulgar, wild rice, quinoa and even whole wheat, take significantly longer to convert to glucose, so we call them complex carbohydrates. This complexity results in a slow, steady elevation in blood sugar (without the spike) which then equates to a slow, gradual decline. Simply put, this means we get long lasting, steady energy from whole grains. Not only is this great for sustaining our energy levels, but we feel fuller longer by choosing whole grains. Additionally, whole grains are nutritionally dense foods. For example, a serving of quinoa contains roughly 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
Now, back to those marketing departments.....when reading food labels, steer clear of any type of flour that touts itself as 'enriched flour' or the even sneakier, 'wheat flour'. Most commercial flour IS wheat flour. They got us a few years ago with 'White Wheat' bread, right? White wheat bread is just 'white bread' in disguise. A good rule of thumb to follow... if it's a white grain, it's usually processed and no longer a whole grain. If it's made of flour, be sure the first ingredient reads "whole" something- whether you love wheat, oats or something more adventuresome like amaranth.
I'm certainly not Sir Issac Newton, but my advice... slow and steady wins the race (at least when it comes to blood sugar) and stay away from the white stuff (unless it's the freshly powdered mountain top you're meditating on).
Q: Why do I feel so bad but my doctor says my labs are all normal?
Early in medical training, a physician learns that there are many ways to gather information related to a patient’s illness. As eager detectives, we search for the source of the problem. We can ask the patient to describe their symptoms, the timing of when they began, if anything makes them better or worse. We can look closely at them, listen to bodily functions, palpate or feel for a problem. Ultimately, in the course of our investigation, we find ourselves ordering laboratory tests. If the results confirm our suspicions of the source of the problem, BINGO, we’re on track. However, very often the results are ‘NORMAL’. So, what does this mean about your symptoms?
It is a popular misconception that the values that run down the far right side of your lab reports determine if you are normal or abnormal. Actually, if you look closer, you will see the column heading will read, “Expected” or “Reference Range.” Why doesn’t it just say “Normal”? Well, there really is no such thing as normal. When Reference Ranges are established, many patients with varying age, sex, race, diet, use of medications, stresses and many other factors are sampled. If samples are collected on someone who doesn’t know they have liver problems from their “normal” alcohol use, for example, that value is included to calculate the Reference Range. Because of this, the Reference Range includes many values that could still be “abnormal” or more precisely, unhealthy. These types of results widen the reference range. So if your numbers fall in the Reference Range, it only means that you are in the range of 90% of the people that were sampled. Unfortunately, these days, I wouldn’t say that if you are like 90% of the American public, you are optimally healthy or “normal” in terms of body functions.
The other consideration is that while we are all human, there is such a tremendous degree of variability between us. When we factor in our diet, level of exercise, social activities, sleep, stress levels, and genetics, one person’s feeling ‘great’ is another person’s ‘sick’. A very simple example is that of Vitamin B-12 levels. Most of us recognize B-12 as the ‘energy’ vitamin. The clinical reference range for this lab is 200-1000 pmol/L. I routinely witness patients that feel chronically exhausted when their values are around 600 pmol/L, yet I have other patients that are bursting with energy with B-12 results of 350 pmol/L.
So, the bottom line: If you feel bad and you are “in range,” you are likely a member of the Walking Unwell.
Between the zone of being Optimally Well and Obviously Diseased, there lives the majority of patients--the Walking Unwell. If you intuitively know something is off yet the conventional medical model has not yet determined the what, why and how these symptoms came to exist in you, it could be because the current system of healthcare was not designed for your issues. Modern medicine is real good at fixing problems with surgical procedures and prescription drugs for things like broken bones, ruptured gallbladders and infected lungs. These are called acute medical issues. Chronic diseases that develop over years, like diabetes, high blood pressure and long-standing digestive disorders, do not “correct" with this quick-fix, band-aid approach. The healthcare system “treats” a disease but the long-term health lies in understanding that we need to fix the root cause of the disease. So, where does that leave you?
The answer is simple. People aren’t healthy one day and chronically diseased the next. It is a gradual progression of a problem (or dysfunction) that at one point just tips over to where your labs might look “abnormal.” What we find most of the time is that people live lifestyles that are not conducive to living long, healthy, vibrant lives. Instead, because of daily poor food choices, lack of movement and poor stress management, patients develop issues that they suffer with needlessly. My advice: Do not wait for your labs to fall out of the Reference Range before you decide to make a change. Your body talks to you everyday. Listen to it and start treating it well with a healthier lifestyle… then relish the joy of being able to walk, jog or run right out of the Walking Unwell zone!