Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinegel. And today,

I want to tackle some of the great questions about food that listeners have sent in recently.

The first one from Mary came in response to my recent episode on prunes, which among other things

can be useful in preventing constipation. She points out that prunes are actually dehydrated

plums. So why is she wants to know? Don't people talk about plums to help with constipation?

What's the difference? Mary's correct, that prunes are dried plums. But there are many different

varieties of plums and not all of them can be dried into prunes. Most of the plums that you buy

fresh at the grocery store or the farmer's market are clingstone plums. Whereas plums that have

been grown for drying are usually free stone, meaning that the pit releases easily without having

to cut the fruit in half. And you've probably noticed you can buy prunes both with and without

the pit. The notorious laxative effect of prunes is due in part to their high sorbitol content.

And this higher sorbitol content is also one of the things that makes certain varieties of

plums particularly suitable for drying because it helps prevent fermentation of the sugars during

the drying process. And because they are lower in sorbitol, most fresh plums will not have as

noticeable a laxative effect. But that wasn't Mary's only question. She also wanted to know why

some people experience the phenomenon known as asparagus pee, where their urine has a distinct smell

after they eat asparagus. Do these people digest asparagus differently? Well, the first thing you

need to know is that asparagus pee is totally harmless. It's caused by a compound that's unique to

asparagus, appropriately named asparagus acid. And during digestion, this acid is broken down into

compounds that contain sulfur, which are then excreted in the urine and give it a strong odor.

This phenomenon can be observed in as little as 15 minutes, but it may be noticeable for several

hours after eating even small amounts of asparagus. But as Mary points out, it doesn't seem to happen

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