My professor of bioengineering said that all foods produce urea. Do foods exist which does not produce urea?
Thank you very much.
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9$\begingroup$ Sugar, fat, any other food that does not contain nitrogen will do. $\endgroup$– Ivan NeretinCommented Sep 18, 2017 at 9:46
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2 Answers
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Food doesn't produce urea, your body produces urea from the nitrogen content of the food you eat (mostly comes from proteins). So you can eat e.g honey, which contains minimal, if any, amount of nitrogen.
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1$\begingroup$ Of course, as your body breaks down dead cells (e.g. red blood cells, life expectancy 3-4 months), urea will also be produced from non-food sources. And you'll need to replace these cells, so you can't eliminate proteins from your diet to eliminate urea production. That said, most diets are very rich in proteins. $\endgroup$– MSaltersCommented Sep 18, 2017 at 16:28
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$\begingroup$ @MSalters Agree. While "very rich" is maybe overstatement (there are many types of food with low protein content), it is true that the whole point of eating food is to eat nutrients like protein. $\endgroup$– GregCommented Sep 19, 2017 at 1:24
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In addition to Greg's answer, surprisingly, a high sodium diet causes the body to produce more urea in order to conserve water. The point being, that there is no direct correlation between food consumed and the production of urea. The body uses urea in it's water/salt balance mechanism.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-body-regulates-salt-levels
"A high salt diet increased glucocorticoid levels, causing muscle and liver to burn more energy to produce urea, which was then used in the kidney for water conservation."
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$\begingroup$ Good point and interesting addition. $\endgroup$– GregCommented Sep 19, 2017 at 1:25