title: Sniffing out significant "Pee values": genome wide association study of asparagus anosmia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the inherited factors associated with the ability to smell asparagus metabolites in urine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Genome wide association study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts.
  
  
  METHODS
  6909 men and women of European-American descent with available genetic data from genome wide association studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were characterized as asparagus smellers if they strongly agreed with the prompt "after eating asparagus, you notice a strong characteristic odor in your urine," and anosmic if otherwise. We calculated per-allele estimates of asparagus anosmia for about nine million single nucleotide polymorphisms using logistic regression. P values <5×10-8were considered as genome wide significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  58.0% of men (n=1449/2500) and 61.5% of women (n=2712/4409) had anosmia. 871 single nucleotide polymorphisms reached genome wide significance for asparagus anosmia, all in a region on chromosome 1 (1q44: 248139851-248595299) containing multiple genes in the olfactory receptor 2 (OR2) family. Conditional analyses revealed three independent markers associated with asparagus anosmia: rs13373863, rs71538191, and rs6689553.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large proportion of people have asparagus anosmia. Genetic variation near multiple olfactory receptor genes is associated with the ability of an individual to smell the metabolites of asparagus in urine. Future replication studies are necessary before considering targeted therapies to help anosmic people discover what they are missing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Markt
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nuttall
authors.affiliation: Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston MA, USA.
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.|Department of Statistics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sinnott
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.|Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Rimm
authors.affiliation: Cabot School, Newton, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ethan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ecsedy
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.|Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.|Division of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fall
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Majken K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rider
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.|Department of Biostatistics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.|Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston MA, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA lmucci@hsph.harvard.edu.|Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|Division of Public Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Lorelei A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Mucci
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D027761:Asparagus Plant; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012737:Sex Factors; D012903:Smell / Q000235:genetics; D012907:Smoking; D014481:United States; D014556:Urine; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics