Urine reveals our eating habits

Prof. Hans-Ulrich Humpf, Dr. Benedikt Cramer and PhD candidate Amelie Frank at the new spectrometer ( from left ). The team can use this piece of equipment to demonstrate the presence of small quantities of mycotoxins and other substances. Münster University - Peter Leßmann We already know that a urine test can establish whether someone has an infection of the urinary tract or has taken illegal drugs. But there are lots more traces to be found in urine - if you know how to read them. Developing and refining techniques to get pointers to a person's eating habits or to harmful substances in their urine is one of the pet projects being pursued by food chemist Prof. Hans-Ulrich Humpf and his working group at the University of Münster. "Innumerable metabolic products can be found in urine which tell us something about a person's environment," says colleague Dr. Benedikt Cramer, "for example, whether they are exposed to noxious substances such as mycotoxins, i.e. the toxins found in fungi." In order to draw any conclusions as regards environmental factors, the researchers first have to identify so-called biomarkers. These molecules can be shown to be present in urine or, for example, in blood, by means of mass spectrometry.