像很多人一樣，我喜歡吃蘆筍！但也有一個有趣的副作用…
當我們中的一些人吃蘆筍的時候，不久我們的小菜聞起來很奇怪——有點像腐爛的或煮熟的捲心菜。但並不是所有人都能做出這種臭東西……還有一點讓人吃驚——不是每個人都能聞到！
我們中那些能夠產生並檢測到這種特殊氣味的人認為其他人都可以。畢竟，我們在吃了蘆筍半小時後，上廁所的時候，就有證據了！
不能察覺或察覺到這種氣味的人根本不知道蘆筍會讓你的小東西發臭，直到有人告訴他們，即使這樣，他們也常常覺得難以相信！
我們知道這種怪味一定是蘆筍中的化學物質引起的。但即使是在今天，科學家們也無法確定是哪種化學物質引起了這種氣味。
我們確實知道一種叫做蘆筍酸的化學物質，它在蘆筍中天然存在。蘆筍酸可以幫助像蘆筍這樣的植物對抗寄生蟲的攻擊，阻止它們進入植物組織。當你吃蘆筍時，你的身體會把這種化學物質分解成一系列其他化學物質，它們的名字很奇特（如甲硫醇、二甲基亞碸、二甲基硫醚、二甲基二硫醚）。好一口！但有趣的是，這些化學物質在尿液中也不存在（或僅以極低的量存在），而這些人在尿液中不會產生臭味
吃蘆筍。
那麼檢測臭味怎麼樣？我們還不能完全理解這一點。總的來說，產生和/或檢測尿液中典型蘆筍氣味的能力在世界各地差異很大。
一項研究發現，一個由307人組成的以色列小組在尿液中聞蘆筍的能力低得驚人，大約為10%。另一項研究發現，中國人中有25%的人有這種能力。
英國一項對來自伯明翰的800人進行的研究表明，大約一半的人能夠產生並檢測出尿液中的氣味。最令人印象深刻的是法國一項對103人的研究，結果顯示他們都在吃了蘆筍後產生了難聞的尿液！
所以如果你喜歡它，看看你吃了它之後能不能發現這種有趣的現象！
你知道嗎？我們人類已經吃了幾千年了。它被描繪在一個5000年前的埃及石雕上！
你知道嗎？西伯利亞和南部非洲之間自然生長著大約300種不同的物種。如今，它主要種植在秘魯、中國和墨西哥供我們食用。
你知道嗎？很少有人會對它過敏。早在1880年，農場上的一些採摘蘆筍的人開始報告偶爾發生皮炎（面板上的一種瘙癢皮疹），這種病通常開始於指尖，但有時可能蔓延到整個手部。
Like many people， I love eating asparagus！ But there can be a funny side effect…
When some of us eat asparagus， shortly afterwards our wee smells strange – a bit like rotten or boiled cabbage。 But not all of us can make this stinky wee… and here‘s something else surprising – not everybody can smell it！
Those of us who can generate and detect this specific odour assume that everybody else can。 After all， we get proof about half an hour after eating some asparagus， when we go to the toilet！
People who cannot detect or perceive the odour have no idea that asparagus can make your wee stinky – until someone tells them about it。 And even then， they often find it hard to believe！
We know that the funny smell must come from chemicals in the asparagus。 But even today， scientists cannot agree which chemicals cause the smell。
We do know of one chemical called asparagusic acid， which is naturally found in asparagus。 Asparagusic acid helps plants like asparagus fight against attacks from parasites， by stopping them from getting into the plants’ tissues。 When you eat asparagus， your body breaks down the chemical into a family of other chemicals with fancy names （like methanthiol， dimethyl sulfoxide， dimethyl sulfide， dimethyl disulfide）。 What a mouthful！ But interestingly， these same chemicals are also missing （or present only in very low quantities） in the urine of people who don‘t make smelly urine when they
eat asparagus。
So what about detecting the stinky smell？ We still don’t fully understand this。 Overall， the ability to generate and/or detect the typical asparagus smell in urine varies enormously around the world。
One study found that an Israeli group of 307 people had an amazingly low level of the ability to smell the asparagus in urine – around 10%。 Another study found this ability present in 25% of a Chinese group。
An English study of 800 people from Birmingham showed that about half could generate， and also detect， the smell in their urine。 Most impressive was a French study of 103 people that revealed they all generated smelly urine after eating asparagus！
So if you like it， see if you can detect this funny phenomenon after eating it！
DID YOU KNOW？ We humans have been eating it for thousands of years。 It was depicted on a 5，000-year-old Egyptian stone carving！
DID YOU KNOW？ There are some 300 different species growing naturally between Siberia and Southern Africa。 Today it is mostly grown in Peru， China and Mexico for our consumption。
DID YOU KNOW？ Very rarely， people can be allergic to it。 Back in 1880， some asparagus pickers on farms began to report occasional attacks of dermatitis （an itchy rash on the skin）， which usually began on the fingertips， but could sometimes spread to the whole hand。
