Leonard F. Bjeldanes

Chapter 5 – Natural Toxins in Plant Foodstuffs

Since food plants are mixtures of large numbers of chemical compounds and since any substance is toxic in a high enough dose, it is not surprising that natural food plants are toxic under certain conditions. Toxicity from common natural foods has resulted from long-term consumption of a single food item or from short periods of consumption of foods containing unusually high levels of a toxic substance. The process of diet selection has been continuous since prehistory and has minimized consumption of foods of high toxicity.