Author(s):

Abhishek Thakur, Vishal Sharma and Aayushee Thakur

Abstract: A number of toxic factors occur naturally in food of plant origin. Food and fodder sources from plants of leguminosae family seem to have the greatest diversity of the toxicants. Phytotoxins are poisonous substances produced by plant or plant pathogens that have adverse effects on living organisms. Phytotoxins have great diversity in their composition, occurrence, mode of action and lethal effects. They belong to diverse classes of compounds such as peptide (amino acid derived), terpenoid, glycoside, phenolic, polyacetate and sometimes combinations of these classes. The biological activity of a phytotoxin can be measured in a number of ways depending on its chemical nature and their apparent effect. Toxic agents can be classified in variety of ways i.e. on the basis of target organ, use, source and effects on biological system. Toxins play an important role in the field of pharmacology especially in forensic medicine and clinical toxicology, veterinary medicine, agrochemicals and their application as vaccines to inactivate toxoids. Furocoumarins (found in citrus fruits, carrots), lectins (rosary peas & caster beans), aflatoxins, (groundnuts, almonds) and glycoalkaloids (potato) are some of the important plant toxins which are harmful for living organisms. Fortunately, under normal dietary conditions, the concentration of such toxicants in food is too low to cause any adverse effects however, under certain conditions, if very high concentration of these phytotoxins is consumed may lead to certain health implications.

Pages: 2705-2708  |  2584 Views  1644 Downloads

Download (451KB)