Urine Smells Strong After Eating Petai Or Jengkol, Doctor Reveals The Reason

JAKARTA - Many people often complain of the pungent smell in urine after consuming petai or jengkol. This distinctive strong smell is already well known to many people, but many are still wondering why it happened? To understand more, you need to look at it from the medical side.

Urine is basically the result of disintegration from the body. This process begins after the body absorbs nutrients from the food we consume. This was revealed by dr. Eggi Respati, Sp.U, an urologist from Eka Hospital Depok.

"Urine is basically something that was thrown away. So urine and defecation are throwing away the remains of food in the body," said dr. Eggi, when met on Jl. Melawai Raya, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta on Thursday, April 24.

This means that urine serves to remove remnants of the body's metabolism, including those that are not used from food.

Petai and jengkol contain compounds called amino acids. This can produce sulfur compounds. These compounds play an important role in producing a distinctive odor in urine after consuming both types of these foods.

"Well, things that are not used must be thrown away, one of which is from urine. Urine is thrown away. So that's the remains of other food," continued dr. Eggi.

When the body digests the petai or jengkol, these sulfur compounds are absorbed into the body and then dumped through the urine. The sulfur compound, also known as metantiol and dimethyl disulfide. This gives a strong and distinctive aroma in urine after consumption of the two foods.

The smell of urine after eating petai or jengkol is a natural thing. On that occasion, dr. Eggi also explained about urinary tract stones.

"B urinary tract is an abnormality in which there is a buildup of crystals to become a rock that includes the kidneys,ureters (channels that connect the kidneys to the bladder), bladder, and uretra (channels that bring urine out of the bladder)," explained dr. Eggi.

Urinary tract stones can form when certain compounds, such as calcium or gout, accumulate and form crystals that then harden into rocks.

Although urinary tract stones can occur due to various factors, consuming certain levels of food from sulfur compounds or other materials in excess can worsen this condition.

Urinary tract stone can appear without clear symptoms in the early stages. However, over time, the rock can interfere with urine flow and cause severe pain.

"The size of the stone can vary, ranging from a piece of sand to the size of ginger/unyit. The urinary tract in his daily life can be very disturbing and cause great pain to reduce the quality of a person's life," added dr. Eggi.

But there is no need to worry, because along with the development of medical technology, urinary tracts can now be overcome with milder and non-operative procedures.

"However, along with the development of tools and technology in the medical world, urinary tracts of any size and shape can be overcome without surgery to minimal invasive procedures." explained dr. Eggi.