What causes urine to smell like food?

Some people suddenly find that their urine has the smell of food and they will worry about it. In fact, the taste of urine is bitter and salty, and sometimes it is accompanied by a strong fishy smell, but it is all normal. So if you want to know whether you have some symptoms, you can understand the main components of urine. Generally speaking, the urine excreted by diabetics has a higher sugar content and is sweet.

1. Nitrogen-containing substances: mainly urea, uric acid, creatine and creatinine, amino acids and ammonia, etc.

1. Urea: It is the main product of protein metabolism. It is produced during liver detoxification and its content in urine changes with protein metabolism. Changes in urea levels are also seen in certain diseases. Severe liver dysfunction can affect urea synthesis and reduce urea excretion. Diabetic patients have increased tissue protein breakdown and increased urea content in their urine. In patients with chronic nephritis, due to renal dysfunction, excretion is reduced, urea excretion is reduced, and the urea content in the blood increases.

2. Uric acid: It is the end product of metabolism of purine compounds. If you eat a lot of food rich in nucleoprotein or a lot of cell decomposition in the body, the amount of acid excreted in the urine will increase. Uric acid easily precipitates crystals in acidic urine and forms stones.

2. Other organic compounds: such as hippuric acid, conjugated glucuronic acid, lactic acid, β-hydroxybutyric acid, oxalic acid and sulfur-containing compounds.

Hippuric acid is formed by the combination of benzoic acid and glycine in the liver and is a way for the body to metabolize benzoic acid. Conjugation with glucuronic acid is also a mode of detoxification in the liver. When strenuous exercise or muscle tissue hypoxia caused by various reasons enhances anaerobic oxidation and increases blood lactate, urinary lactate excretion also increases. Oxalic acid comes from vegetables, and calcium oxalate is easily excreted in acidic urine and becomes a component of urinary stones. -Hydroxybutyric acid is one of the main members of ketone bodies. When metabolic acidosis occurs in the body, ketone bodies may appear in the urine.

3. Electrolytes: The inorganic salts in urine are mainly Cl-, Na+, K+ and phosphate.

The excretion of Cl- and Na+ in urine is often accompanied by each other. The more you eat, the more you excrete. The less you eat, the less you excrete. When the body is deficient, there may be no excretion. K+ is different. Even if the body lacks K+, it will still be excreted in the urine as long as there is urine. Therefore, the kidney's ability to retain Na+ is stronger than its ability to retain K+.

In addition, although there are small amounts of protein and sugar in the urine, they are considered physiological because they cannot be detected by general methods. If protein and sugar are detected in the urine, it is considered pathological.

Normal human urine is generally salty. Physiological saline contains 0.9% sodium chloride, and the salt content of urine is roughly the same. DM's urine is generally salty most of the time. If it tastes sweet, it means that the blood sugar level is very high, which means you have diabetes. You need to pay attention to this.