Urine Odor

• Urine Odor Explanation
• Urine Odor Change Causes
• Urine Odor List

Urine Odor Explanation

Urine can have different smells ranging from sweet to foul, due to a variety of chemicals excreted by the kidneys and other organs. Normal pee has little to no odor. If the pee becomes highly concentrated, pee odor may indicate a strong ammonia concentration. Some odors of pee indicate rare urinary disorders such as the maple syrup urine disease. Different medical conditions cause different smells. Many smell-altering urinary problems are diabetes, Urinary Tract Infection, liver problems, kidney problems, metabolic disorders, and more.

Urine Odor Change Causes

• Acute (Hepatic) liver failure
• Bladder infections
• Phenylketonuria
• Interstitial Cystitis
• Dehydration means the urine is concentrated and produces ammonia-like smells
• Urinary tract infection
• Diabetic ketoacidosis and Type 2 diabetes
• Eating certain foods, such as asparagus
• Maple sugar urine disease
• Kidney infection
• Metabolic disorder
• Ketonuria
• Rectovaginal fistula

Urine Odor List

Foul Smelling Pee - may be due to bacteria, indicating urinary tract infections.
Sweet Smelling Pee - possible diabetes or a rare metabolism disease.
Musty Smelling Pee - liver disease and certain metabolic disorders.

Food and Urine Odor

Food can cause changes in urine odor. Asparagus has long been known to make pee smell very foul. Not only that, but asparagus is also known to cause green urine which can be a very scary thing to experience if you are not aware that it simply comes from colors in the food.