Table Of ContentCRC SERIES IN NUTRITION AND FOOD
Editor-in-Chief
Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr.
Handbook of Nutritive Value of Handbook of Agricultural Productivity
Processed Food Volume 1: Plant Productivity
Volume 1: Food For Human Use Volume II: Animal Productivity
Volume II: Animal Feedstuffs
Handbook of Naturally Occurring
Handbook of Nutritional Requirements Food Toxicants
in a Functional Context
Volume 1: Development and Conditions Handbook of Foodb orne Diseases
of Physiologic Stress of Biological Origin
Volume II: Hematopoiesis, Metabolic
Function, and Resistance to Handbook of Nutritional Supplements
Physical Stress Volume 1: Human Use
Volume II: Agricultural Use
HANDBOOK SERIES
Nutritional Requirements Diets, Culture Media, Food
Volume 1: Comparative and Supplements
Qualitative Requirements Volume 1: Diets for Mammals
Volume II: Food Habits of, and
Nutritional Disorders Diets for Invertebrates and
Volume 1: Effect of Nutrient Vertebrates - Zoo Diets
Excesses and Toxicities in Animal Volume III: Culture Media for
and Man Microorganisms and Plants
Volume II: Effect of Nutrient Volume IV: Culture Media for
Deficiencies in Animals Cells, Organs and Embryos
Volume III: Effect of Nutrient
Deficiencies in Man
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First published 1983 by CRC Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Handbook of naturally occurring food toxicants.
(CRC series in nutrition and food)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Food—Analysis. 2. Food poisoning.
I. Rechcigl, Miloslav. II. Title. C.R.C. handbook
of naturally occurring food toxicants. III. Series.
TX53l.H286 1983 615.9’54 82-9551
ISBN 0-8493-3965-0
A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 82009551
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PREFACE
CRC SERIES IN NUTRITION AND FOOD
Nutrition means different things to different people, and no other field of endeavor
crosses the boundaries of so many different disciplines and abounds with such diverse
dimensions. The growth of the field of nutrition, particularly in the last 2 decades,
has been phenomenal, the nutritional data being scattered literally in thousands and
thousands of not always accessible periodicals and monographs, many of which, fur-
thermore, are not normally identified with nutrition.
To remedy this situation, we have undertaken an ambitious and monumental task
of assembling in one publication all the critical data relevant in the field of nutrition.
The CRC Series in Nutrition and Food is intended to serve as a ready reference
source of current information on experimental and applied human, animal, microbial,
and plant nutrition presented in concise tabular, graphical, or narrative form and in-
dexed for ease of use. It is hoped that this projected open-ended multivolume compen-
dium will become for the nutritionist what the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Phys-
ics has become for the chemist and physicist.
Apart from supplying specific data, the comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and com-
parative nature of the CRC Series in Nutrition and Food will provide the user with an
easy overview of the state of the art, pinpointing the gaps in nutritional knowledge
and providing a basis for further research. In addition, the series will enable the re-
searcher to analyze the data in various living systems for commonality or basic differ-
ences. On the other hand, an applied scientist or technician will be afforded the oppor-
tunity of evaluating a given problem and its solutions from the broadest possible point
of view, including the aspects of agronomy, crop science, animal husbandry, aquacul-
ture and fisheries, veterinary medicine, clinical medicine, pathology, parasitology, tox-
icology, pharmacology, therapeutics, dietetics, food science and technology, physiol-
ogy, zoology, botany, biochemistry, developmental and cell biology, microbiology,
sanitation, pest control, economics, marketing, sociology, anthropology, natural re-
sources, ecology, environmental science, population, law politics, nutritional and food
methodology, and others.
To make more facile use of the series, the publication has been organized into sepa-
rate handbooks of one or more volumes each. In this manner the particular sections
of the series can be continuously updated by publishing additional volumes of new
data as they become available.
The Editor wishes to thank the numerous contributors many of whom have under-
taken their assignment in pioneering spirit, and the Advisory Board members for their
continuous counsel and cooperation. Last but not least, he wishes to express his sincere
appreciation to the members of the CRC editorial and production staffs, particularly
President Bernard J. Starkoff, Earl Starkoff, Sandy Pearlman, Amy G. Skallerup,
and Melanie Mortellaro for their encouragement and support.
We invite comments and criticism regarding format and selection of subject matter,
as well as specific suggestions for new data which might be included in subsequent
editions. We should also appreciate it if the readers would bring to the attention of
the Editor any errors or omissions that might appear in the publication.
Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr.
Editor-in-Chief
PREFACE
HANDBOOK OF NATURALLY OCCURRING FOOD TOXICANTS
In the last decade an increased concern has been voiced against various environmen-
tal hazards, particularly chemicals that may cause harm to humans or animals. Nu-
merous studies which have dealt with this subject invariably have focused on chemical
contaminants of some component of a food chain. In contrast, much less attention
has been paid to the potentially harmful substances that may occur in foodstuffs nat-
urally.
Naturally occurring toxicants are often associated with legumes and oil-bearing
plants which constitute one of the most important sources of protein, particularly in
the countries of the Third World. A prolonged consumption of food containing natu-
ral toxicants may bring about chronic toxicity exhibited by reduced growth, digestive
disturbances, or aggravation of malnutrition. In the absence of acute toxic symptoms
the condition is often undetected. Apart from the obvious health effects, a continuous
ingestion of such toxicants can also markedly affect the person's productivity and as
a consequence further endanger the existence of those populations that subsist on such
foodstuffs.
The purpose of this Handbook is to sensitize the reader to this problem and to
provide a systematic overview of the most important naturally occurring food toxi-
cants.
The Handbook should be of interest to anybody who is concerned with nutritive
and health aspects of food. Inasmuch as many of the discussed toxicants can be re-
moved or destroyed by a suitable method of food processing it should be of special
value to food technologists.
THE EDITOR
Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr. is a Nutrition Advisor and Chief of Research and Methodol-
ogy Division in the Agency for International Development.
He has a B.S. in Biochemistry (1954), a Master of Nutritional Science degree (1955),
and a Ph.D. in nutrition, biochemistry, and physiology (1958), all from Cornell Uni-
versity. He was formerly a Research Biochemist in the National Cancer Institute, Na-
tional Institutes of Health and subsequently served as Special Assistant for Nutrition
and Health in the Health Services and Mental Health Administration, U.S. Depart-
ment of Health, Education and Welfare.
Dr. Rechcigl is a member of some 30 scientific and professional societies, including
being a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow
of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Institute of Chem-
ists, and Fellow of the International College of Applied Nutrition. He holds member-
ship in the Cosmos Club, the Honorary Society of Phi Kappa Pi, and the Society of
Sigma Xi, and is recipient of numerous honors, including an honorary membership
certificate from the International Social Science Honor Society Delta Tau Kappa. In
1969, he was a delegate to the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and
Health and in 1975 a delegate to the ARPAC Conference on Research to Meet U.S.
and World Food Needs. He served as President of the District of Columbia Institute
of Chemists and Councillor of the American Institute of Chemists, and currently is a
delegate to the Washington Academy of Sciences and a member of the Program Com-
mittee of the American Institute of Nutrition.
His bibliography extends over 100 publications including contributions to books,
articles in periodicals, and monographs in the fields of nutrition, biochemistry, physi-
ology, pathology, enzymology, molecular biology, agriculture, and international de-
velopment. Most recently he authored and edited Nutrition and the World Food Prob-
lem (S. Karger, Basel, 1979), World Food Problem: a Selective Bibliography of
Reviews (CRC Press, 1975), and Man, Food and Nutrition: Strategies and Technolog-
ical Measures for Alleviating the World Food Problem (CRC Press, 1973) following
his earlier pioneering treatise on Enzyme Synthesis and Degradation in Mammalian
Systems (S. Karger, Basel, 1971 ), and that on Microbodies and Related Particles, Mor-
phology, Biochemistry and Physiology (Academic Press, New York, 1969). Dr. Rech-
cigl also has initiated a new series on Comparative Animal Nutrition and was Associ-
ated Editor of Nutrition Reports International.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
E. J. W. Barrington Dorothy Hollingsworth
Cornerways Institute of Biology
Alderton, Tewkesbury London, England
Glasgow, Scotland
B .. Connor Johnson
Charles A. Black Department of Biochemistry and
Department of Agronomy Molecular Biology
Iowa State University of Science and The University of Oklahoma Health
Technology Science Center
Ames, Iowa Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Ricardo Bressani
0. L. Kline
Division of Agricultural and Food
American Institute of Nutrition
Science
Bethesda, Maryland
Institute of Nutrition of Central
America and Panama (IN CAP)
Guatemala City, Guatemala Gilbert A. Leveille
General Foods Corporation
Sir David Cuthbertson Tarrytown, New York
Department of Pathological
Biochemistry Margaret Mead (deceased)
University of Glasgow The American Museum of Natural
Royal Infirmary History
Glasgow, Scotland New York, New York
William J. Darby EmilM. Mrak
The Nutrition Foundation, Inc. Department of Food Science
New York, New York University of California, Davis
Davis, California
Emanuel Epstein
Department of Soils and Plant
Anthony H. Rose
Nutrition
School of Biological Sciences
University of California, Davis
University of Bath
Davis, California
Claverton Down
Bath, England
Leon Golberg
Chemical Industry Institute of
Howerde E. Sauberlich
Toxicology
Department of Nutrition
Research Triangle Park, North
Letterman Army Institute of Research
Carolina
San Francisco, California
Earl 0. Heady
Center for Agricultural and Rural NevinS. Scrimshaw
Development Department of Nutrition and Food
Iowa State University of Science and Science
Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ames, Iowa Cambridge, Massachusetts
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS (Continued)
Charity Waymouth E. M. Widdowson
The Jackson Laboratory University of Cambridge
Bar Harbor, Maine Clinical Department of Medicine
Addenbrooks Hospital
Cambridge, England
Dr. S. H. Wittwer
Agricultural Experiment Station
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
CONTRIBUTORS
Robert C. Buckner, Ph.D. Bernd Hoffmann, Ph.D., D.V.M.
Research Agronomist Director and Professor
USDA-Agricultural Research Service Institut fi.ir Veterinarmedizin
and University of Kentucky B undesgesundheitsam t
Lexington, Kentucky Berlin, West Germany
Mordechai Chevion, Ph.D. A. W. Hovin, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer Professor
Department of Cellular Biochemistry Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Montana State University
Jerusalem, Israel Bozeman, Montana
G. Cooper-Driver, Ph.D. John W. Howard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Plant Director
Biochemistry Division of Chemistry and Physics
Boston University Food and Drug Administration
Boston, Massachusetts Washington, DC
N. T. Crosby, Ph.D. Werner Jaffe, Ph.D.
Department of Industry Professor of Biochemistry and
Laboratory of the Government Chemist Nutrition
London, England Universidad Central, Facultad de
Ciencias
Christine S. Evans, Ph.D. Caracas, Venezuela
Research Fellow
Department of Biology Kenneth F. Lampe, Ph.D.
Imperial College Senior Scientist
University of London American Medical Association
London, England Chicago, Illinois
Thomas Fazio, Ph.D. Pavel Langer, M.D.
Division of Chemistry and Physics Institute of Experimental
Bureau of Foods Endocrinology
Food and Drug Administration Center of Physiological Sciences, SA V
Washington, DC Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Frederick A. Fuhrman, Ph.D. Jacob Mager, M.D., Ph.D.*
Professor of Physiology Emeritus Professor and Chairman
Stanford University Department of Cellular Biochemistry
Stanford, California Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel
Gad Glaser, M.D., Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer Hiromu Matsumoto, Ph.D.
Department of Cellular Biochemistry Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry
Hebrew University of Jerusalem University of Hawaii
Jerusalem, Israel Honolulu, Hawaii
• Deceased May 3, 1980.
