Dietary goitrogens
1982
The potential influences of dietary goitrogens (DGs) on endemic goiter causation is reviewed. Goiter development in rabbits fed a cabbage diet first drew attention to the possibility of DGs in food. Other DGs were subsequently implicated, occurring mostly in plants of the Brassica and Crucifera families. The agents usually are thioglucosides which are hydrolytically converted to thiocyanates and isothiocyanates. For these Dgs to be effective, large amounts of the food must be ingested, or the DG must be concentrated at some stage in the food chain. Epidemics have been attributed to a DG entering cows' milk during the spring flush of DG-containing pasture weeds. Recent studies focused on endemic goiter and cretinism in Zaire in which cassava was implicated as a food containing a DG (linamarin). Variations in goiter prevalence were correlated with the degree of iodine deficiency and the level of urinary thiocyanate excretion, taken together. The observations obtained are equally relevant to endemic goiter and endemic cretinism. Two clinical forms of the latter (myxoedematous and neurological) relate to the presence of DGs in food and water supplies. Children, aged 1-3 years, are more vulnerable to the cassava DG than are adults. (wz)
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