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<head><title>Vegetables, etc."Who Defines Food?</title></head>
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Vegetables, etc."Who Defines Food?
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Since bacteria in the rumens of cows destroy unsaturated fatty acids, but don't harm vitamin E, it seems
reasonable to suppose that beef and milk would have a better ratio of vitamin E to unsaturated fats than
do the plants eaten by the cows.


Toxic pesticides are found in higher concentrations in the urine and fat of slaughtered animals than in
their livers, since the livers are detoxifying the chemicals and causing them to be excreted.
Presumably, the animals' livers will perform the same detoxification reactions with the phytotoxicants that occur naturally in their diet.

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Not long ago, breast feeding was socially unacceptable in the United States, and several manufacturers were
teaching the world"s poorest women to use their baby-food formulas even when there was no clean water for
its preparation. Industrialists have campaigned to convince the public that their by-products, from
cotton-seed oil to shrimp shells, are "health foods." In several parts of the world, desperately poor people
sometimes eat clay, and even clay has been promoted as a health food. Almost anything becomes "food," when
people are under economic and social pressure. If these things aren"t acutely toxic, they can become part of
our "normal" diet.

Our instincts give us a few clues about our nutritional needs, such as thirst, the hunger for salt, the
pleasantness of sweet things, and the unpleasantness of certain odors or very acrid or bitter tastes. People
who are constitutionally unable to taste certain bitter chemicals find certain vegetables less
objectionable; their instinctive guidance has become less clear. But within the boundaries of cravings and
disgust, habits and customs become the dominant forces in diet. "Professional dietitians" and other
"experts" primarily function as enforcers of cultural prejudice.


The manufacturers of pureed vegetables for babies used to put large amounts of salt, sugar, and monosodium
glutamate into their products, because the added chemicals served as instinctual signals that made the
material somewhat acceptable to the babies. There was no scientific basis for providing these vegetables to
babies in a form that they would accept, but it was a profitable practice that was compatible with the
social pressure against prolonged breast feeding.


Poor people, especially in the spring when other foods were scarce, have sometimes subsisted on foliage such
as collard and poke greens, usually made more palatable by cooking them with flavorings, such as a little
bacon grease and lots of salt. Eventually, "famine foods" can be accepted as dietary staples. The fact that
cows, sheep, goats and deer can thrive on a diet of foliage shows that leaves contain essential nutrients.
Their minerals, vitamins, and amino acids are suitable for sustaining most animal life, if a sufficient
quantity is eaten. But when people try to live primarily on foliage, as in famines, they soon suffer from a
great variety of diseases. Various leaves contain antimetabolic substances that prevent the assimilation of
the nutrients, and only very specifically adapted digestive systems (or technologies) can overcome those
toxic effects.

Some plants have specific "pests," such as insects, that have adapted to be resistant to that plant"s
toxins, but if the plant and its predator are to survive, there has to be a balance between the plant
tissue"s digestibility and its toxicity. Injury of a plant stimulates it to make increased amounts of its
defensive chemicals. Plant toxins are known to be specific for animal tissues; for example, a toxin will
inhibit the action of an enzyme from an animal, but a plant enzyme that catalyzes the same reaction won"t be
affected.


Plant defensive chemicals can have beneficial uses as drugs. Plants are important sources for chemicals used
in chemotherapy of cancer, with the purpose of stopping cell division. Other plant drugs can stimulate cell
division. The drug from one plant will sometimes protect cells against the toxic effects of another plant.
The use of any drug that isn"t a natural part of animal physiology will have many biological effects, so
that a beneficial drug action will usually be accompanied by unwanted side-effects. An antioxidant may turn
out to disrupt the endocrine system, an antiinflammatory drug may be mutagenic or carcinogenic.


A particular plant will have a variety of defensive chemicals, with specific functions. Underground, the
plant"s roots and tubers are susceptible to attack by fungi and nematodes. The leaves, stems, and seeds are
susceptible to attack by insects, birds, and grazing animals. Since the plant"s seeds are of unique
importance to the plant, and contain a high concentration of nutrients, they must have special protection.
Sometimes this consists of a hard shell, and sometimes of chemicals that inhibit the animal"s digestive
enzymes. Many plants have evolved fruits that provide concentrated food for animals, and that serve to
distribute the seeds widely, as when a bird eats a berry, and excretes the undigested seed at a great
distance. If the fruit were poisonous, it wouldn"t serve the plant"s purpose so well. In general, the
plant"s most intense toxins are in its seeds, and the fruits, when mature, generally contain practically no
toxins. Roots contain chemicals that inhibit microorganisms, but because they aren"t easily accessible by
grazing animals and insects, they don"t contain the digestive inhibitors that are more concentrated in the
above-ground organs of the plant.


The toxins of plants include phenols, tannins, lectins/agglutinins, and trypsin-inhibitors, besides
innumerable more specific metabolic inhibitors, including "anti-vitamins." Unsaturated fats themselves are
important defenses, since they inhibit trypsin and other proteolytic enzymes, preventing the assimilation of
the proteins that are present in seeds and leaves, and disrupting all biological processes that depend on
protein breakdown, such as the formation of thyroid hormone and the removal of blood clots.


Generally, fruits, roots, and tubers provide a high concentration of nutrients along with low concentrations
of toxic antimetabolic substances.


While nutritional reference tables often show fruits and potatoes as having about 2% protein content, while
nuts, grains, and legumes are shown with a high protein content, often in the range of 15% to 40%, they
neglect to point out that fruits and potatoes have a very high water content, while that of the seeds is
extremely low. The protein content of milk is about 3%, which according to the charts would suggest that it
is inferior to beans and grains. In fact, the protein value of grain is negligible, mainly because seeds
contain their protein in a storage form, that is extremely rich in nitrogen, but poor in essential amino
acids. Special preparation is needed to reduce the toxicity of seeds, and in the case of beans, these
methods are never very satisfactory.

Besides their specific defensive toxins and antimetabolites, plants are major sources of allergens. The
allergenicity of a food depends on the sensitivity of the individual, as well as on the growth conditions of
the plant. The use of extremely toxic pesticides has affected both the crops and the sensitivity of the
human population to allergens. Sensitivities induced originally by toxic pesticides used on certain crops
can probably persist after the industrial chemical has been eliminated, because the immune system is
susceptible to "conditioning."


Many types of phytochemicals are mutagenic, and some of those are carcinogenic. Bruce Ames, at the
University of California, devised a method of screening for mutagens, using bacteria. One of his graduate
students using the technique found that the flame retardants in children's pajamas and bedding were powerful
mutagens, and were probably causing cancer. That event made Ames a celebrity, and in the 1980s he went on a
lecture tour supported by the American Cancer Society. His lectures reflected the doctrine of the A.C.S.,
that industrial chemicals aren't responsible for cancer, but that individual actions, such as smoking or
dietary choices, are the main causes of cancer. He used a fraudulently "age adjusted" graph of cancer
mortality, that falsely showed that mortality from all types of cancer except lung cancer had leveled off
after the A.C.S. came into existence. He described tests in which he had compared DDT to extracts of food
herbs, and found DDT to be less mutagenic than several of the most commonly used flavoring herbs. His
message, which was eagerly received by his audience of chemistry and biology professors, was that we should
not worry about environmental pollution, because it's not as harmful as the things that we do to ourselves.
He said that if everyone would eat more unsaturated vegetable oil, and didn't smoke, they wouldn't have
anything to worry about.


For me, the significance of his experiment was that plants contain natural pesticides that should be taken
more seriously, without taking industrial toxins less seriously.


Technologies have been invented to convert vegetation into digestible protein, but at our present scientific
and technological level, it"s better to simply minimize our use of the more toxic foods, and to direct more
effort toward the elimination of the conditions that produce famine.


Animal proteins, and fruits, because they contain the lowest levels of toxins, should form the basis of the
diet. Not all fruits, of course, are perfectly safe--avocados, for example, contain so much unsaturated fat
that they can be carcinogenic and hepatotoxic.

Protein deficiency itself contributes to the harm done by toxins, since the liver"s ability to detoxify them
depends on adequate nutrition, especially good protein. In the 1940s, Biskind"s experiments showed that
protein deficiency leads to the accumulation of estrogen, because the liver normally inactivates all the
estrogen in the blood as it passes through the liver. This applies to phytoestrogens and industrial
estrogens as well as to the natural estrogens of the body. At a certain point, the increased estrogen and
decreased thyroid and progesterone cause infertility, but before that point is reached, the hyperestrogenism
causes a great variety of birth defects. Deformities of the male genitals, and later, testicular cancer in
the sons and breast cancer in the daughters, are produced by the combination of toxins and nutritional
deficiencies.

<h3>REFERENCES</h3>

Onderstepoort J Vet Res 1989 Jun;56(2):145-6. Thiaminase activities and thiamine content of
Pteridium aquilinum, Equisetum ramosissimum, Malva parviflora, Pennisetum clandestinum and Medicago
sativa. Meyer P Animal and Dairy Science Research Institute, Private Bag, Irene. Thiaminase
type 1 and 2 activities and thiamine content of five plants were determined. Of these Pteridium aquilinum
and Equisetum ramosissimum were found to have considerably more thiaminase activity and lower thiamine
content than Malva parviflora, Pennisetum clandestinum and Medicago sativa.


Nature 1994 Apr 21;368(6473):683-4. Mystery of the poisoned expedition.

Earl JW, McCleary BV Department of Biochemistry, Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, Sydney,
New South Wales, Australia. The Burke and Wills expedition through the interior of Australia in the
nineteenth century ended in calamity. But the cause of death was more pernicious than anyone at the time had
imagined: beriberi due to thiaminase poisoning.


Comment in: Nature 1994 Aug 11; 370(6489):408. Aust Vet J 1992 Jul;69(7):165-7. 
Mechanisms underlying Phalaris aquatica "sudden death" syndrome in sheep. Bourke CA, Carrigan
MJ New South Wales Agriculture, Agricultural Research and Veterinary Centre, Orange. Twenty outbreaks of
Phalaris aquatica "sudden death" syndrome in sheep were investigated between 1981 and 1991. Four were
confirmed and one was suspected, to be a cardiac disorder; 5 were confirmed and 3 were suspected, to be a
polioencephalomalacic disorder; the aetiology of the remaining 7 outbreaks could not be determined.
Potentially toxic levels of hydrocyanic acid (20 to 36 mg/100 g) were measured in the 3 toxic phalaris
pastures tested. The measurement of potentially toxic levels of nitrate nitrogen (2920 micrograms/g) in
toxic phalaris pastures by others, was noted. It is suggested that phalaris "sudden death" syndrome could
have as many as 4 different underlying mechanisms, and
that these might reflect the presence in the plant of a cardio-respiratory toxin, a thiaminase and amine
co-substate, cyanogenic compounds, and nitrate compounds.

Indian J Med Res 1991 Oct;94:378-83. Genotoxic effects of some foods &amp; food components in Swiss
mice. Balachandran B, Sivaswamy SN, Sivaramakrishnan VM Isotope Division, Cancer Institute,
Madras. A number of commonly consumed foods and food components in south India were
screened for their genotoxic effects on Swiss mice. Salted, sundried and oil fried vegetables and fishes
induced chromosomal aberrations, sperm head abnormalities and micronuclei production, which were
comparable to the effect of the positive control viz., 20-methylcholanthrene. Spices like Cissus quadrangularis (an indigenous herb used in certain south Indian dishes) and pyrolysed cumin and aniseeds
showed moderate effects. Calamus oil, widely used in pharmaceuticals was highly effective. All the three
parameters of genotoxicity gave similar results.


In Vivo 1998 Nov-Dec;12(6):675-89. Comparative anticancer effects of vaccination and dietary factors
on experimentally-induced cancers.
Zusman I Laboratory of Teratology and Experimental Oncology, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of
Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. The
role of two major factors were analyzed in the prevention of experimentally-induced cancers: a) vaccination
of animals with polyclonal IgG generated against the soluble p53 antigen and b) feeding of animals with
diets rich with dietary fibers or fat. a) In vaccination, a few attempts have been made to utilize p53
protein as a tumor suppressor. IgG generated against the cytoplasmic, soluble p53 antigen from tumor-bearing
rats prevents the carcinogenic effect of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) decreasing significantly the number of
tumor-bearing rats in vaccinated group compared with non vaccinated controls and preventing benign tumors
from becoming malignant. The antitumor effect of vaccination is accompanied by a significant increase in the
serum-level of p53 antigen in vaccinated rats compared with non vaccinated controls. The immune response of
a host to vaccination activates the lymph components of the spleen, and this activation is manifested by the
multiplication of the number of lymphocytes which are generated against specific antigens. This
multiplication is achieved by the higher division of the antigen-specific lymphoblasts with their subsequent
transformation into plasma cells. These cells synthesize the specific protein (IgG). One such protein is the
tumor-associated p53 protein, which is synthesized by rats against rabbit anti-p53 IgG. b) The role of
dietary factors in the prevention of chemically induced cancer was reviewed on two models: the role of high
fiber diets in prevention of colon cancer, and the role of high fat diets in the prevention of
mammary gland cancer. Experiments in colon cancer showed that 20% cellulose decreased
significantly tumor incidence caused by DMH. The tumor-preventive effect of a cellulose diet was accompanied
by increased enzyme concentrations, such as ornithine decarboxylase, thymidine kinase and
beta-glucuronidase. This effect was accompanied by activation of some cellular mechanisms, i.e. apoptosis,
proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and p53 protein synthesis. Experiments in mammary glands
cancer showed that a 15% olive-oil diet reduced significantly the tumor incidence caused by
9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene. The antitumor effect of the olive-oil diet was connected to its
content of monounsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic and palmitic acids. The promotive tumorigenic
effects of other high-fat diets (avocado, soybeans) were associated with high content of some
polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic). Different diets have different
targets. The effect of the same diet depends on its anti-tumor substances content. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination
and some diets have similar mechanism in their tumor-preventive effects.

Ann Nutr Metab 1991;35(5):253-60.
Effect of dietary avocado oils on hepatic collagen metabolism. Wermam MJ, Mokady S, Neeman I
Department of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. The
effect of various avocado and soybean oils on collagen metabolism in the liver was studied in growing female
rats for 8 weeks and in day-old chicks for 1 week. In comparison with rats fed either refined avocado oil,
refined or unrefined soybean oils, rats fed unrefined avocado oil showed a significant decrease in
total collagen solubility

in the liver, while there were no changes in total collagen, protein and moisture content. Chicks fed
unrefined avocado oil as compared to those fed refined avocado oil also showed a decrease in hepatic total
soluble collagen while hepatic total collagen remained unaffected. Electron micrographs and light-microscope
examinations of rats' liver revealed
collagen accumulation in the periportal location. This is suggestive of the early stages of
fibrosis.


Life Sci 1997;60(19):1635-41. L-canaline: a potent antimetabolite and anti-cancer agent from
leguminous plants. Rosenthal GA Laboratory of Biochemical Ecology, University of Kentucky,
Lexington 40506, USA. <a href="mailto:garose@ukcc.uky.edu" target="_blank">garose@ukcc.uky.edu</a>
L-Canaline, the L-2-amino-4-(aminooxy)butyric acid structural analog of L-ornithine' is a powerful
antimetabolite stored in many leguminous plants. This nonprotein amino acid reacts vigorously with
the pyridoxal phosphate moiety of vitamin B6-containing enzymes to form a covalently-bound oxime that
inactivates, often irreversibly, the enzyme.

Canaline is not only capable of inhibiting ornithine-dependent enzymic activity, but it also can function as
a lysine antagonist. Recently, this natural product was found to possess significant antineoplastic in vitro
activity against human pancreatic cancer cells.


Food Chem Toxicol 1999 May;37(5):481-91. Occurrence of emodin, chrysophanol and physcion in
vegetables, herbs and liquors. Genotoxicity and anti-genotoxicity of the anthraquinones and of the whole
plants. Mueller SO, Schmitt M, Dekant W, Stopper H, Schlatter J, Schreier P, Lutz WK Department
of Toxicology, University of Wurzburg, Germany.
1,8-Dihydroxyanthraquinones, present in laxatives, fungi imperfecti, Chinese herbs and possibly
vegetables, are in debate as human carcinogens. We screened a variety of vegetables (cabbage lettuce,
beans, peas), some herbs and herbal-flavoured liquors for their content of the 'free' anthraquinones
emodin, chrysophanol and physcion. For qualitative and quantitative analysis, reversed-phase HPLC
(RP-LC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and RP-LC-MS were used. The vegetables showed a
large batch-to-batch variability, from 0.04 to 3.6, 5.9 and 36 mg total anthraquinone per kg fresh
weight in peas, cabbage lettuce, and beans,
respectively. Physcion predominated in all vegetables. In the herbs grape vine leaves, couch grass
root and plantain herb, anthraquinones were above the limit of detection. Contents ranged below 1
mg/kg (dry weight). All three anthraquinones were also found in seven of 11 herbal-flavoured
liquors, in a range of 0.05 mg/kg to 7.6 mg/kg. The genotoxicity of the analysed anthraquinones was
investigated in the comet assay, the micronucleus test and the mutation assay in mouse lymphoma L5178Y
tk+/-
cells. Emodin was genotoxic, whereas chrysophanol and physcion showed no effects. Complete vegetable
extract on its own did not show any effect in the micronucleus test. A lettuce extract completely
abolished the induction of micronuclei by the genotoxic anthraquinone danthron. Taking into
consideration the measured concentrations of anthraquinones, estimated daily intakes, the
genotoxic potency, as well as protective effects of the food matrix, the analysed constituents do not
represent a high priority genotoxic risk in a balanced human diet.

Int J Food Sci Nutr 1998 Sep;49(5):343-52. Lipid content and fatty acid composition in foods
commonly consumed by nursing Congolese women: incidences on their essential fatty acid intakes and
breast milk fatty acids.
Rocquelin G, Tapsoba S, Mbemba F, Gallon G, Picq C Tropical Nutrition Unit, ORSTOM, Montpellier, France. The
fat content and fatty acid (FA) composition of nearly 40 foods, currently consumed by 102 nursing Congolese
mothers living in Brazzaville, were determined to assess their impact on mothers' essential fatty acid (EFA)
intakes and breast milk FA. Data on mothers' milk FA and dietary habits which allowed food selection were
recently published (Rocquelin et al., 1998). Most foods were locally produced. Food samples were collected
at local markets, bleached if necessary to avoid microbial degradation, and stored at +4 degrees C or -20
degrees C. They were lyophilized upon their arrival in the laboratory before lipid analyses. FA composition
of food lipids was determined by capillary gas chromatography. Staple diets included low-fat,
high-carbohydrate foods (processed cassava roots, wheat bread) and high-polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)
foods: soybean oil (high in 18 : 2 n-6 and alpha-18 : 3 n-3), bushbutter
(dacryodes edulis), peanuts, avocado (high in fat and 18 : 2 n-6), freshwater
and salt-water fish (high in LC n-3 and/or n-6 PUFA), and leafy green vegetables
(low in fat but very high in alpha-18 : 3 n-3). Their frequent consumption by nursing mothers
provided enough EFA to meet requirements due to lactation. It
also explains why mothers' breast milk was rich in C8-C14 saturated FA (26% of total FA) and in
n-6, n-3 PUFA (respectively 15.0% and 2.4% of total FA) highly profitable for breastfed infants'
development. From this point of view, dietary habits of Congolese mothers have to be sustained for they are
more adequate than most Western-type diets.

Med Oncol Tumor Pharmacother 1990;7(2-3):69-85.
Dietary carcinogens, environmental pollution, and cancer: some misconceptions. Ames BN, Gold LS
Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720. Various
misconceptions about dietary carcinogens, pesticide residues, and cancer
causation are discussed. The pesticides in our diet are 99.99% natural, since plants make an enormous
variety of toxins against fungi, insects, and animal predators. Although only 50 of these natural
pesticides have been tested in animal cancer tests, about half of them are carcinogens. About
half of all chemicals tested in animal cancer tests are positive. The proportion of natural pesticides
positive in animal tests of clastogenicity is also the same as for synthetic chemicals. It is argued that
testing chemicals in animals at the maximum tolerated dose primarily measures chronic cell proliferation, a
threshold process. Cell proliferation is mutagenic in several ways, including inducing mitotic
recombination, and therefore chronic induction of cell proliferation is a risk factor for cancer.


Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1980 Aug;77(8):4961-5. Fecalase: a model for activation of dietary
glycosides to mutagens by intestinal flora. Tamura G, Gold C, Ferro-Luzzi A, Ames BN Many
substances in the plant kingdom and in man's diet occur as glycosides. Recent studies have indicated that
many glycosides that are not mutagenic in tests such as the Salmonella test become mutagenic upon hydrolysis
of the glycosidic linkages. The Salmonella test utilizes a liver homogenate to approximate mammalian
metabolism but does not provide a source of the enzymes present in intestinal bacterial flora that hydrolyze
the wide variety of glycosides present in nature. We describe a stable cell-free extract of human feces,
fecalase, which is shown to contain various glycosidases that allow the in vitro activation of many natural
glycosides to mutagens in the Salmonella/liver homogenate test. Many beverages, such as red wine (but
apparently not white wine) and tea, contain glycosides of the mutagne quercetin. Red wine, red grape juice,
and tea were mutagenic in the test when fecalase was added, and red wine contained considerable direct
mutagenic activity in the absence of fecalase. The implications of quercetin mutagenicity and
carcinogenicity are discussed.

Br J Rheumatol 1994 Aug;33(8):790-1. Even garlic. Sweetman BJ


Nutr Cancer 1988;11(4):251-7. Cytotoxicity of extracts of spices to cultured cells.
Unnikrishnan MC, Kuttan R Amala Cancer Research Centre, Kerala, India. The cytotoxicity of the extracts from
eight different spices used in the Indian diet was determined using Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor cells
and human lymphocytes in vitro and Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and Vero cells in tissue culture. Alcoholic
extracts of the spices were found to be more cytotoxic to these cells than their aqueous extracts. Alcoholic
extracts of several spices inhibited cell growth at concentrations of 0.2-1 mg/ml in vitro and 0.12-0.3
mg/ml in tissue culture.
Ginger, pippali (native to India; also called dried catkins), pepper, and garlic showed the highest
activity followed by asafetida, mustard, and horse-gram (native to India). These extracts also inhibited
the thymidine uptake into DNA.


J Toxicol Sci 1984 Feb;9(1):77-86.
[Mutagenicity and cytotoxicity tests of garlic]. [Article in Japanese] Yoshida S, Hirao Y,
Nakagawa S Mutagenicity and cytotoxicity of fresh juice and alcohol extract from garlic were studied by
Ames' test, Rec assay, Micronucleus test and the check of the influence to HEp 2 and chinese hamster embryo
(CHE) primary cultured cells. No evidence of mutagenicity of these samples were observed in Ames' test and
Rec assay, while there was dose dependent increase of micronucleated cells and polychromatocytes on the bone
marrow cells of mice and chinese hamsters treated with garlic juice. There were severe damages, e.g. growth
inhibition and morphological changes of both cultured cells due to garlic juice, but no or slightly
cytotoxic signs were observed even in high concentration of garlic extract. A higher sensitivity to the
cytotoxic effects of garlic was seen by the present findings with CHE primary cells than HEp 2 cell line.


Chung Hua Chung Liu Tsa Chih 1985 Mar;7(2):103-5 [Comparison of the cytotoxic effect of fresh
garlic, diallyl trisulfide, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), mitomycin C (MMC) and Cis-DDP on two lines of gastric
cancer cells].
[Article in Chinese] Pan XY Teratog Carcinog Mutagen 1998; 18(6):293-302 
In vitro and in vivo study of the clastogenicity of the flavone cirsitakaoside extracted from Scoparia
dulcis L. (Scrophulariaceae). Pereira-Martins SR, Takahashi CS, Tavares DC, Torres LM
Department of Biology, Federal University of Maranhao, Sao Luis, MA. Brazil. <a
href="mailto:smartins@rgm.fmrp.usp.br"
target="_blank"
>smartins@rgm.fmrp.usp.br</a> The mutagenic effect of the flavone cirsitakaoside extracted from the
medicinal herb Scoparia dulcis was evaluated in vitro by using human peripheral blood cultures treated with
doses of 5, 10, and 15 microg of the flavone/ml culture medium for 48 h. The compound proved to be mutagenic
at the highest concentration tested (15 microg/ml). Furthermore, the proliferative index was significantly
reduced in all cultures treated with the flavone, although the mitotic index was not reduced. However, the
clastogenic activity of the flavone cirsitakaoside was not observed when Swiss mice were treated orally with
doses of 10, 20, and 30 mg/animal for 24 h.


Proc Nutr Soc 1977 Sep;36(2):51A.Attempts to overcome anti-nutritive factors in field beans (Vicia
faba L) and field peas (Pisum sativum) fed in diets to laying hens.

Davidson J


Am J Clin Nutr 1995 Sep;62(3):506-11. The influence of genetic taste markers on food
acceptance. Drewnowski A, Rock CL Human Nutrition Program, School of Public Health, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-2029, USA. Genetically mediated sensitivity to the bitter taste of
phenylthiocarbamide
(PTC) and 6-n-propylthiouracil (Prop) has long been associated with enhanced sensitivity to other sweet
and bitter compounds. New studies suggest that tasters and supertasters of Prop may also differ from
notasters in their taste preferences and in their patterns of food rejection and food acceptance. One
question is whether the acceptability of bitter-tasting vegetables is influenced by Prop taster status.
Cruciferous vegetables are among the major dietary sources of potentially chemoprotective
agents in cancer control, and their consumption is reported to alter cancer risk. Strategies aimed at
dietary change in individuals or groups should consider the role of genetic taste markers and their
potential influences on food preferences and dietary habits.


J Environ Sci Health B 1999 Jul;34(4):681-708. Accumulation of potentially toxic elements in plants
and their transfer to human food chain.
Dudka S, Miller WP University of Georgia, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Athens 30602-2727, USA.
Contaminated soils can be a source for crop plants of such elements like As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The
excessive transfer of As, Cu, Ni, and Zn to the food chain is controlled by a "soil-plant barrier"; however, for some elements, including Cd, the soil-plant barrier fails. The level of Cd ingested
by average person in USA is about 12 micrograms/day, which is relatively low comparing to Risk Reference
Dose (70 micrograms Cd/day) established by USEPA. Food of plant origin is a main source of Cd intake
by modern society. Fish and shellfish may be a dominant dietary sources of Hg for some human
populations. About half of human Pb intake is through food, of which more than half originates from
plants.

Dietary intake of Cd and Pb may be increased by application of sludges on cropland with already high levels
of these metals. Soils amended with sludges in the USA will be permitted (by USEPA-503 regulations)
to accumulate Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, and Se, and Zn to levels from 10 to 100 times the present baseline
concentrations.
These levels are very permissive by international standards. Because of the limited supply of toxicity data
obtained from metals applied in sewage sludge, predictions as to the new regulations will protect crop
plants from metal toxicities, and food chain from contamination, are difficult to make.


BJU Int 2000 Jan;85(1):107-13. A maternal vegetarian diet in pregnancy is associated with
hypospadias. The ALSPAC Study Team. Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood.
North K, Golding J Unit of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, Division of Child Health, University of
Bristol, UK. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible role of the maternal diet, particularly vegetarianism
and consumption of phytoestrogens, in the origin of hypospadias, which is reported to be increasing in
prevalence. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Detailed information was obtained prospectively from mothers, including
previous obstetric history, lifestyle and dietary practices, using structured self-completed questionnaires
during pregnancy. Previously recognized associations with environmental and parental factors were examined,
focusing particularly on the hypothesized hormonal link. Multivariate logistic regression was used to
identify independent associations. RESULTS: Of 7928 boys born to mothers taking part in the Avon
Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, 51 hypospadias cases were identified. There were no
significant differences in the proportion of hypospadias cases among mothers who smoked, consumed alcohol or
for any aspect of their previous reproductive history (including the number of previous pregnancies, number
of miscarriages, use of the contraceptive pill, time to conception and age at menarche). Significant
differences were detected for some aspects of the maternal diet, i.e. vegetarianism and iron
supplementation in the first half of pregnancy. Mothers who were vegetarian in pregnancy had an adjusted
odds ratio (OR) of 4.99 (95% confidence interval, CI, 2.10-11.88) of giving birth to a boy with
hypospadias, compared with omnivores who did not supplement their diet with iron. Omnivores who
supplemented their diet with iron had an adjusted OR of 2.07 (95% CI, 1.00-4.32). The only
other statistically significant association for hypospadias was with influenza in the first 3 months of
pregnancy (adjusted OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.50-6.78). CONCLUSION: As vegetarians have a greater exposure to
phytoestrogens than do omnivores, these results support the possibility that phytoestrogens have a
deleterious effect on the developing male reproductive system.