Why do I smell like Ammonia? This question, in thousands of variations, has been asked over and over again at every major question/answer site, especially teen, bodybuilding and athletic forums.
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Medical sites talk about diseases like chronic kidney failure, hepatic cirrhosis or H. pylori infection. Fitness sites recommend drinking more water, reevaluating protein sources, nutrition programs (like Paleo diet) and eating more carbohydrates.
Aurametrix correlates users' actions and reactions based on information on diet and symptoms the system has. Preliminary correlations in the Aurametrix knowledge base show how exactly excess protein leads to ammonia-like odor.
But wait a minute - what about excess fat?
An example provided by one of our users is very interesting. The user logged a few foods he thought were contributing to odor. These were different odors according to the user - ranging from "Ammonia-like" to "Fishy", sharp, cloying and stale. Aurametrix, however, recognized that all these odors described by the user may be related to nitrogen-containing compounds. When these three data points were analyzed along with four foods that the user did not associate with any odors, Aurametrix displayed only one result:
- Hexadecanoic acid (when consumed more than 0.7 grams, up to 1.19)
Hexadecanoic acid - commonly known as Palmitic acid - is one of the most common saturated fatty acids in the Western diet. Palm oil and coconut oil contain especially high levels of this acid. What effect does this acid have on metabolism? It down-regulates glycose metabolism and protein metabolism, affecting calcium or mRNA binding proteins. So there may very well be a connection!