Young infants, and perhaps those with recurrent oxalate kidney stones, should avoid beets. But most commonly, the chief side effect is beeturia, the harmless passage of pink urine, though not all are affected—akin to the malodorous urine (“stinky pee”) that sometimes results from asparagus consumption.
Asparagus Pee
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I just presented evidence from this groundbreaking new series of experiments suggesting beets can significantly improve athletic performance. Can’t be that easy; there has to be some downside.
Well, those who want their kids to get a jump on physical fitness should know that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends we not feed vegetables to infants under three months of age—but we shouldn’t be feeding babies anything but breast milk at that age.
What else? Beets do have a lot of oxalates in them, and though the primary means of preventing oxalate kidney stone formation involves meat restriction, and eating more fruits and vegetables, some people are genetically predisposed to oxalate absorption—in which case they might want to instead choose a different high-nitrate plant food to boost their performance.
Other than that theoretical concern, only two side effects were consistently noted in these studies: no deleterious side effects, but subjects did, however, report beeturia (red urine) and red stools.
That’s actually the real name: beeturia, the passage of pink or red urine after the ingestion of beetroot, and it doesn’t happen in everybody, which is kind of interesting.
Same thing with asparagus— only about half the population gets stinky pee from asparagus, whereas the frequency appears greater among Americans, for some reason. Those who produce the odor assume, politely, that everyone does, and those who do not produce it have no idea of the olfactory consequences of asparagus. There is no reason as to why these two opposing factions should converse on this subject; it just wouldn’t come up in conversation. But a brief discourse with one’s colleagues will confirm such differences and verify this state of affairs.
It actually gets curiouser and curiouser. There are not just two types of people in the world, when it comes to asparagus pee, but four. Some people get stinky pee, but apparently genetically don’t have the ability to smell the smelly compounds themselves. Some people are excreters of stinky asparagus pee, while others are non-excreters. However, others are perceivers (able to smell the odor), while others can’t. So, some people think they don’t have stinky pee, but in actuality it’s just not stinky to them.
You’ve got to love nutritional science.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by MaryAnn Allison.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Meschi T, Nouvenne A, Borghi L. Lifestyle recommendations to reduce the risk of kidney stones. Urol Clin North Am. 2011 Aug;38(3):313-20. Epub 2011 Jun 8.
- Ferreira LF, Behnke BJ. A toast to health and performance! Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure and the O2 cost of exercise. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Mar;110(3):585-6. Epub 2010 Dec 23.
- Watts AR, Lennard MS, Mason SL, Tucker GT, Woods HF. Beeturia and the biological fate of beetroot pigments. Pharmacogenetics. 1993 Dec;3(6):302-11.
- Greer FR, Shannon M; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health. Infant methemoglobinemia: the role of dietary nitrate in food and water. Pediatrics. 2005 Sep;116(3):784-6.
- Bailey SJ, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Winyard PG, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, Wilkerson DP, Benjamin N, Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances muscle contractile efficiency during knee-extensor exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul;109(1):135-48. Epub 2010 May 13.
- Sugarman J, Neelon FA. You're in for a treat: asparagus. N C Med J. 1985 Jun;46(6):332-4.
- Mitchell SC. Food idiosyncrasies: beetroot and asparagus. Drug Metab Dispos. 2001;29(4 Pt 2):539-43.
I just presented evidence from this groundbreaking new series of experiments suggesting beets can significantly improve athletic performance. Can’t be that easy; there has to be some downside.
Well, those who want their kids to get a jump on physical fitness should know that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends we not feed vegetables to infants under three months of age—but we shouldn’t be feeding babies anything but breast milk at that age.
What else? Beets do have a lot of oxalates in them, and though the primary means of preventing oxalate kidney stone formation involves meat restriction, and eating more fruits and vegetables, some people are genetically predisposed to oxalate absorption—in which case they might want to instead choose a different high-nitrate plant food to boost their performance.
Other than that theoretical concern, only two side effects were consistently noted in these studies: no deleterious side effects, but subjects did, however, report beeturia (red urine) and red stools.
That’s actually the real name: beeturia, the passage of pink or red urine after the ingestion of beetroot, and it doesn’t happen in everybody, which is kind of interesting.
Same thing with asparagus— only about half the population gets stinky pee from asparagus, whereas the frequency appears greater among Americans, for some reason. Those who produce the odor assume, politely, that everyone does, and those who do not produce it have no idea of the olfactory consequences of asparagus. There is no reason as to why these two opposing factions should converse on this subject; it just wouldn’t come up in conversation. But a brief discourse with one’s colleagues will confirm such differences and verify this state of affairs.
It actually gets curiouser and curiouser. There are not just two types of people in the world, when it comes to asparagus pee, but four. Some people get stinky pee, but apparently genetically don’t have the ability to smell the smelly compounds themselves. Some people are excreters of stinky asparagus pee, while others are non-excreters. However, others are perceivers (able to smell the odor), while others can’t. So, some people think they don’t have stinky pee, but in actuality it’s just not stinky to them.
You’ve got to love nutritional science.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by MaryAnn Allison.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Meschi T, Nouvenne A, Borghi L. Lifestyle recommendations to reduce the risk of kidney stones. Urol Clin North Am. 2011 Aug;38(3):313-20. Epub 2011 Jun 8.
- Ferreira LF, Behnke BJ. A toast to health and performance! Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure and the O2 cost of exercise. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Mar;110(3):585-6. Epub 2010 Dec 23.
- Watts AR, Lennard MS, Mason SL, Tucker GT, Woods HF. Beeturia and the biological fate of beetroot pigments. Pharmacogenetics. 1993 Dec;3(6):302-11.
- Greer FR, Shannon M; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health. Infant methemoglobinemia: the role of dietary nitrate in food and water. Pediatrics. 2005 Sep;116(3):784-6.
- Bailey SJ, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Winyard PG, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, Wilkerson DP, Benjamin N, Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances muscle contractile efficiency during knee-extensor exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul;109(1):135-48. Epub 2010 May 13.
- Sugarman J, Neelon FA. You're in for a treat: asparagus. N C Med J. 1985 Jun;46(6):332-4.
- Mitchell SC. Food idiosyncrasies: beetroot and asparagus. Drug Metab Dispos. 2001;29(4 Pt 2):539-43.
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Title
Asparagus Pee
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
If you missed the beginning of this series, start with the experiments described in Doping With Beet Juice and replicated in Out of the Lab Onto the Track. In Pretty in Pee-nk, I use beeturia to illustrate an important point about phytonutrients, and return to the nitric oxide story in Hearts Shouldn’t Skip a Beet.
For the asparagus lovers out there, check out my video Best Cooking Method.
For further context, check out my associated blog posts: Using Greens to Improve Athletic Performance, and Increasing Muscle Strength with Fenugreek.
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