The low carb dieters often complain about their keto pee smells like meat. However, ketosis urine smells like tuna or asparagus is rising symptoms after the meaty urine smell. But why does your keto pee smells like tuna or even asparagus during a low carb diet?
It’s very embarrassing if you are in an office or attending a party. So, are you going to avoid parties or offices for this fishy odor? Is there any solution?
Well, there are multiple reasons behind this tuna urine smell after eating the keto diet. In some cases, you may observe your ketosis urine smell like asparagus.
And the good news is that the reasons are not harmful excluding some absurd conditions.
So, let’s discover why your keto urine smells like tuna or asparagus and how to get rid of keto smelly pee and ketones urine smell. However, you should confirm your ketosis level using keto urine strips first.
Why Keto Pee Smells Like Tuna Reasons & Solutions
Trimethylaminuria
Keto pee smells like tuna because of trimethylaminuria in the majority of cases. In fact, trimethylaminuria is the main reason behind tuna or fish smelling urine. Trimethylaminuria is a disorder caused by failure of the route between hepatic trimethylamine (TMA) oxidation and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMANO).
It’s not a critical disorder. According to tho studies, dietary precursors such as choline, carnitine, and TMANOT are the main culprit behind trimethylaminuria (1).
So, what are such foods? Well, the majority of healthy organic foods that we consume in the keto diet are great sources of choline, carnitine, and TMANOT.
Let’s check what are these keto foods that promote your keto pee smells like tuna.
- Eggs
- Keto friendly meat like beef, and chicken
- Best keto seafood i.e tuna and cod
- Best keto vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, and mushrooms.
- Some keto nuts and seeds i.e peanut and sunflower seeds
- Consumption of kiwi on keto
- Dairy products like yogurt and milk
How To Cure Ketosis Tuna Smelling Pee Which Occurs Due To Trimethylaminuria?
It’s not that difficult to cure keto pee that smells like tuna because of trimethylaminuria. Just you need to limit your intake of the above-mentioned seafood, dairy, meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and animal products.
Moreover, riboflavin-rich foods and probiotics can be helpful to treat trimethylaminuria or fishy keto urine smell.
Some ketogenic and great sources of riboflavin are
Following low carb keto fruits and vegetables are great sources of probiotics.
- Garlic
- Leek
- Onion
- Keto Watermelon
However, if you are facing ketosis urine color issues you should avoid avocado and watermelon. The two most common urine color issue arises from watermelon and avocado.
In some cases, excess eating of avocado causes a change in urine color which is known as avocado urine color. It may cause a total of 9 no of shades.
Also, you may face 5 types of watermelon urine color after eating low carb keto fruits like watermelon.
However both avocado and watermelon are among keto safe fruits. Urine color may change in some extreme cases.
5-hydroxymethylfurfural Can Cause Tuna or Fishy Urine Smell
The excretion of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furoic acid after consumption of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural foods is also associated with tuna smelling pee. However, it is a rare cause of fishy urine odor.
Consumption of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural or HMF-containing food promotes are related to urine metabolites (2).
There are some very common foods/drinks which are high sources of HMF. These are
- Coffee
- Dried Fruit
- Alcohol
- Prunes
- Canned Peach
- Raisins
Among these peach is a widely used low carb fruit by keto lovers. So, excess consumption of these may promote your keto pee smells like tuna or a strong fishy odor.
How to Cure: By following a strict intake of these foods you can overcome the keto pee smell. However, you should not worry about this syndrome as it occurs very rarely.
Ketosis Urine Smell Like Asparagus Reasons
Asparagusic Acid
Too much consumption of food high in asparagusic acid aka asparagus is the cause behind asparagus keto urine odor. Asparagus is one of the most common veggies among the top 10 low-carb vegetables chart. It is a rich source of asparagusic acid.
Asparagusic acid is a compound that contains sulfur. It is also known as 1,2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic acid.
During digestion of asparagusic acid, it creates sulfur byproducts. When these sulfur byproducts are released through your urine it makes your keto pee smell like asparagus. However, only in extreme cases, it promote asparagus urine odor.
Also, studies have shown that asparagusic acid-rich vegetables i.e asparagus can change the urine odor (3).
The sulfur component of asparagus is the main cause behind your keto pee smells like tuna or asparagus.
How to Cure: Like trimethylaminuria ketosis urine smell, asparagusic acid pee smell can also be cured by controlled intake of asparagus.
By limiting the intake of asparagus during your keto diet you can prevent the generation of excess asparagusic acid and keto smelly pee.
Additional Causes Not Related With Ketosis Urine Smell
There are some additional causes that are not directly related to low carb urine smell or ketosis pee smell.
These are
- Urinary Tract Infection(UTI)
- Bacterial Vaginosis
- Kidney Disease
- Liver Disease
- Prostate Infection
- Pregnancy
- Nutrient Deficiency
Remember none of these are directly related to the keto diet. These medical conditions often cause smelly urine.
If you face any of these health disorders you should immediately consult with a doctor. Also if you have a history of these diseases before starting a low carb keto diet you should consult with a physician.
Final Thoughts
Keto pee smells like tuna is a common side-effect of excess consumption of some keto foods. Low carb keto-approved foods rich in choline, carnitine, and TMANOT are the main cause behind the keto pee smell. Also, peach which is a very common keto fruit may promote keto smelly pee like tuna.
On the other hand, the sulfur component of asparagus is responsible for the keto urine smell. Too much consumption of this vegetable promotes keto asparagus urine smell.
Limiting consumption of these types of keto fruits, vegetables, seafood, etc will help you to recover from keto urine smell like tuna and asparagus.
Ketosis Urine Smell Like Tuna or Asparagus FAQs
Why My Pee Smells Like Tuna After Coffee?
Coffee is a great source of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural or HMF. After eating of surplus amount of coffee HMF starts to releasing through urine which makes your pee smells like tuna.
However, tuna smelling pee is more commonly observed in peached flavored coffee. Often the peach flavor is prepared from canned peaches which is a common source of high HMF.
Although, you can get rid of this problem by reducing the intake of your daily coffee.
Why Does My Pee Smell Like Tuna on My Period?
The fishy smell of urine during the period is not directly related to keto pee smells like tuna.
Your pee smells like tuna on period is normally due to urinary tract infection or bacterial vaginosis.
For the majority of cases, UTI and vaginal infection are related to smelly fishy urine.
Also, bad hygiene, trimethylaminuria, and some dietary supplements promote urine smell like tuna during the period.
If you face tuna smelling pee during the period it is a wise decision to consult a doctor.
Why Does Ketosis Urine Smell Like Asparagus?
Asparagus is a low carb vegetable commonly used in the keto diet. It contains asparagusic acid a sulfur compound.
Excess eating of this keto vegetable promotes releasing of sulfur by-products with urine. Several people eat a lot of asparagus to get quick ketosis which creates such a sulfur releasing situation and due to this ketosis urine smells like asparagus or a strong sulfur odor.
