When urinating, your pee’s odour can make you wonder: Why does my pee smell like popcorn? If this is so, then it’s a medical condition as your urine is to have a mild and neutral smell. Nevertheless, there should be no cause for alarm as you can correct this with simple steps.
Your pee smells like popcorn because your body lacks the water it needs to make your urine less concentrated. In other words, dehydration in your body is the primary cause. However, pregnancy, diabetes, and a lot of protein in the body are also causes of this odour. Once your urine is more concentrated, it will have a more pungent popcorn-like smell.
As mentioned previously, the smell of your urine shouldn’t be a reason to feel troubled. Keep reading for in-depth answers to your question, ‘why does my pee smell like popcorn?’
What Should My Pee Be Like?
Pee is a waste product comprising primarily water, salt, and electrolytes such as potassium and phosphorus. It also includes chemicals such as urea and uric acid. When your kidneys filter toxins and other dangerous items out of your blood, you will urinate.
A range of elements in your body influences your urine’s appearance, including drugs, foods, and illnesses. The urine of someone who is healthy and sound has a pale, golden colour. Urochrome, a pigment produced by your body, is responsible for this colouring.
The urine color constantly changes with the different conditions of the body. One of the reasons why this may be so is overhydration. On the other hand, if it is colourless, it could be due to a diuretic you’re using.
Urine doesn’t usually have a powerful smell. However, some foods, such as asparagus, which contains a vital sulphur component, may affect the odour. A vitamin B-6 supplement is another substance that could affect the odour.
It’s healthy to pee at least eight times a day even though some may be well but pee differently. This factor depends on how much you consume, especially caffeine and alcohol. Also, it could be a result of a drug you are taking.
Why Does My Pee Smell Like Popcorn?
Once your body has a problem, there will be signs in your pee’s odour, colour, and frequency of urinating. One of such symptoms is having a smell similar to that of popcorn. So when you wonder, ‘why does my pee smell like popcorn?’, here are several reasons for this.
1. Dehydration
One of the most common reasons for the smell is the lack of water in the body.
When you’re dehydrated, your body excretes less water in your pee. Due to this, the urine becomes more intense with a darker colour and a more pungent smell. As a result, your pee will likely smell like popcorn.
2. Consuming Too Many Protenious Meals
At times, when you eat so many proteinous meals, your body will convert it for energy in the place of carbohydrates. When this happens, the ketones in the blood will spike. When these ketones leave the body while urinating, the pee may smell nice or like popcorn.
3. Diabetes
In persons with diabetes, ketone levels in the blood can be extraordinarily high. The body produces these hormones when it doesn’t have enough energy from glucose to sustain itself. This situation could happen unexpectedly or during a fast.
Hyperglycemia, or constantly high blood glucose levels, can lead to ketoacidosis within a day. Ketoacidosis patients’ urine is often sweet-smelling.
If someone is in ketosis, their urine or blood contains many ketones. These chemicals can cause the urine to smell like popcorn.
4. Pregnancy
Pregnant women go through several body changes, and some could affect the smell of their urine. They may sometimes experience altered smell and perceive things differently from what it actually smells like.
How Can I Correct My Pee’s Odour?
There are ways to deal with the problem if your pee smells like popcorn. Though it could mean terrible things when your urine smells bad, you shouldn’t panic over it. Here are some of the ways to return the odour of your urine to its typical smell:
1. Stay Hydrated
Most medical professionals will advise you to drink water as frequently as eight times daily. However, this may not always apply to everyone as several factors make our water intake vary.
For some people, less than eight glasses may be plenty. Others might need more than eight glasses each day. Factors like the weather and physical activities predominantly affect the frequency of people’s water intake.
Drinks and even certain meals can help one stay hydrated internally. However, drinking clean water is the best way to provide fluid for the system.
2. Change Your Diet
Alter your eating habits. Some meals and beverages have a greater odour. Coffee and asparagus, for example, can impart a distinct and pungent odour to pee.
3. Go for Regular Check-ups
Have your bladder and urinary system checked to see if you have an infection. Urine can smell stronger, even nasty, when infected.
Conclusion
When you ask, ‘why does my pee smell like popcorn?’, remember it’s simply how you eat or drink. It is advisable to contact a doctor if it extends beyond a considerable time when dieting isn’t the cause.
Pregnant women or patients treating diabetes or other diabetes symptoms with this smell should seek medical advice. Urine with a popcorn-like odour could signal a severe health condition in some circumstances.
