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Date Posted: 10:58:59 01/18/06 Wed
Author: Steve Patterson
Author Host/IP: toronto-HSE-ppp3954317.sympatico.ca / 70.49.98.239
Subject: Re: foods AND maybe it is perfume stress?
In reply to: Pete 's message, "Re: foods AND maybe it is perfume stress?" on 20:40:48 01/14/06 Sat

>Animals that are stressed and trying to mark territory
>will produce stinky pee.

An animals' feces, sweat glands and urine can pass information along to another animal with regard to its stress level (amongst many other markers), however, these signals are meant for not for our noses. Our noses are pretty useless compared to the noses of our furry friends. I doubt any differences we can detect in flyer urine odour is telling us anything other than "I need more water" or "I ate something that is making my urine smell sronger than usual".

Normally, to our noses, urine odour is a direct result of what has been consumed. Of course, water intake, or lack thereof, can mitigate/aggravate the perceived strength of the odour.

Eat a bunch of asparagus and take a pee an hour later. What you can smell are the mercaptans (sulphur compounds) that are present in asparagus (mercaptans, for example, are added to LPG (propane), which is odourless in its natural state).

Urine in many female mammals smells different during estrus - this is a natural "aphrodesiac" and also helps males to find the female. Many mammals have a vomeronasal organ inside the nose that are built to detect phernomes realeased in urine. Males produce a more musky odor of urine. Many rodents have olfactory epithelium inside the nose. As odours pass by this sensitive area of skin, much information is passed on to the brain. Exactly what information, well, we need much more study into this area, but for starters it is believed information about an animals' sex and reproductive status are passed in rodent urine. And stress levels too.

But I stress (pardon the pun) that none of these types of smells are even slightly noticable by human noses. We just don't have the equipment! Not by a long shot!

Genetics may also play a role in how an animals' pee (and I am including humans in this) smells after eating a given foodstuff. Research in this area is still in its infancy.

Obviously there are other potential factors that could be at play, such as bladder infections and kidney infections.

But an interesting discussion, nonetheless!

S

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