Why Does Asparagus Make Urine Smell?

As lots of you have probably noticed, urine develops a funny smell after eating all of this delicious, seasonal asparagus. And some of you probably did not notice. Why, you ask?

Asparagus contains both the sulfur-containing compound methyl mercaptan and the amino acid asparagine. The breakdown of both of these compounds in the digestive track is responsible for urine's strange smell. The fascinating part to this urine-asparagus phenomenon is that not everyone has smelly urine shortly after eating asparagus, even though many do, and there is a segment of the population who cannot smell the sulphurous fumes of asparagus-laced urine even if their bodies produce it. Only those with a certain gene break down the chemicals inside asparagus into their smelly components, and only those with the proper gene can smell the results of the chemical breakdown.

There you have it. Which camp do you belong to?