British Food Journal Volume 66 Issue 10 1964

Abstract

These substances, resulting from the constant building‐up and breaking‐down of living tissues, have most friendly relations with their host, although antagonists—antimetabolites—appear now and then and disrupt their functions. In some of the inborn errors of metabolism, the antagonism is permanent and unless replacement therapy occurs at a very early stage, it interferes with physical and/or mental development. That metabolites from other sources introduced into a host could be extremely toxic was amply illustrated when a metabolite of certain strains of Aspergillus flavus, a fungus commonly found in peanuts and other vegetable seeds, caused severe losses to turkey breeders a few years ago. In 1960, it was discovered that the toxic principle was aflatoxin, which had a number of components and that all farm and laboratory animals, with the exception of sheep, were sensitive to it. Now, it has been confirmed that pure aflatoxin added to a normal laboratory diet is carcinogenic. (J. H. Butler and J. M. Barnes, 1963, Brit. J. Cancer, 17, 699.) Cows fed on highly toxic meal secreted a milk factor which proved to be toxic to ducklings. (H. de Iongh, R. O. Vles, and J. G. van Pelt, 1964, Nature, 202, 466.)

Citation

(1964), "British Food Journal Volume 66 Issue 10 1964", British Food Journal, Vol. 66 No. 10, pp. 126-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb011630