Urine odor.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
From: callie.writepage.com (Callie)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 01:21:48 GMT
Subject: Re: Excessive Urine Odor! Any solutions?????

>Has anyone out there have a problem with or know of a solution for excessive urine odor. It is quite an embarrassing problem and if anyone knows of any herbs/medications that help with this, it would be greatly appreciated.

It may be diet. Asparagus is notorious for producing stinky urine. Other vegetables can also have that effect. Cut out the cabbage relatives and see if that helps.

Drink a LOT of water ... dilute is less odiferous.

It could be herbs or drugs - the kidneys dump a lot of water soluble stuff out of the body.

Keep a food diary. Start with a very plain diet, and add foods until you find one that causes the problem.

From: Catherine A Hensley <hensley.lims1.lanl.gov>

> Has anyone out there have a problem with or know of a solution for

Odors can be caused by a lot of things, so one simple cure probably won't cover them all. First of all, do you drink a lot of coffee? If so, try cutting back or giving it up completely for a few weeks. (I suggest you start over a long weekend or holiday, so that you don't lose your job when you start snapping at people and complaining of headaches and other withdrawal symptoms. <g>) Coffee often gives urine a strong odor.

The next thing to think of is how much water do you drink? Just plain water, not sodas, coffee, tea, or anything else? If you drink enough water in a day, your urine should be only pale yellow (unless you take a B-vitamin supplement) and only slightly odorous. Strongly colored and scented urine can be a sign of dehydration. And yes, many Americans suffer from chronic dehydration.

Next, consider how much protein you eat. Protein is made up of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Excess protein is broken down in the liver into fat (carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen), which is stored in the body, and nitrogen compounds, which are excreted in the urine. One recognizeable odor would be ammonia. Read that again. Excess protein does NOT become muscle, it gets broken down into fat and into nitrogen compounds that you pee out. If you are taking protein supplements to bulk up, stop. If you are eating three half-pound burgers every day, stop. Reduce your protein intake to closer to what the Healthy Heart people say, and see if that improves your odor problem.

As a simple (but not always effective) herbal help, try one of the chlorophyl coctails available in most herb shops.

Hope you find something helpful here.

Catherine

From: ltrudick.aol.com (Ltrudick)

Do you take any magnesium? If you don't you might want to try some. Although most nutritionists recommend taking twice as much calcium as magnesium supplements, I've heard others say the dosage should be one to one. Drinking water with every meal and in between may help also.