Xenobiotic Metabolism: Nutritional Effects

Abstract

In the course of living in the modern world it is inevitable that man and animals will be exposed to compounds in the environment which are not essential for life or even "normal" from the standpoint of the evolution of the species. The term "xenobiotic" (from the Greek "xenos" and "bios", meaning stranger to life) was coined by Mason, et al (1) to describe the myriad of compounds including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, alkaloids, natural and synthetic drugs, flavorings, pigments, preservatives, polycyclic hydrocarbons, flavonoids, terpenoids, etc., which may enter the organism as non-essential or non-functional materials. The assumption inherent in the use of the term is that one is speaking relative to an organism of reference. For example, the drug quinine is a xenobiotic relative to man but not to the South American tree, Chinchonaofficinalis, in which quinine is a major constituent of the bark. Xenobiotics which enter the biosphere