ABSTRACT
DEDICATION This chapter is dedicated to the late Dr. Daphne Roe, a true pioneer whose indomitable
spirit and intellect helped to light the path of knowledge for all who follow in her footsteps.
environment is dependent on an intricate metabolic system that is inextricably dependent on dietary factors and, ultimately, the nutritional status of the individual. A teleological expla nation of the synergism between diet and the detoxification of foreign substances has been offered that is based on the evolutionary change to a complex diet paradoxically rich in essential nutrients yet also containing botanical sources of potentially toxic chemicals.1 The need to seek out these sources of essential nutrition was linked to the need to develop mechanisms for detoxifying the accompanying toxins. These mechanisms, in turn, became dependent on many of the same essential nutrients, creating an interdependence between nutrition and detoxification. In the modern day human environment, food, air, and water continue to be sources of exposure to potentially harmful toxicants, and this synergism has attained an even more critical role in human health and disease.
