My friend works for an advertising agency and sometimes brings home whole boxes of whatever it is she’s photographing. On good weeks it can be a wheel of California cheese or a local wine, on bad weeks it’s Pokarri Dried cuttlefish snack (Japanese client) or brand-X mac and cheese. Recently it was a big box of artificially flavored butter flavored pretzel thingies.
This being an After Christmas / rents due / car payment couple of weeks I’ve been living off the things and I’ve noticed that, when peeing, my urine stream smells distinctly of that fake butter stuff!
I mentioned this to a friend of mine. He said it’s because the fake butter stuff is actually a synthetic amino acid made to mimic a natural butter-derived amino acid that gives butter it’s distinct smell, mixed with canola oil and sprayed on the pretzels. And like asparagus, since the body doesn’t break that amino acid down, voila, Butter Pee.
Now, if you were to know this guy you’d know not to take what he say at face value. Can anybody confirm or deny this?
I could be wrong, but I believe the main ingredient in immitation butter flavor is butyric acid (or some derivative thereof). Butyric acid is a natural consituent of real butter. It is not an amino acid. I have no idea how the body metabolizes butyric acid, if it does.
I noticed as I get older that more and more foods can be smelled in my pee. Maybe my sense of smell is getting better, or I am peeing in urinals more than toilets…
