Natural toxicants in foods

Food constitutes the most complex part of our chemical environment. Naturally occurring substances in food, such as goitrogens and estrogens, are toxicants. However, there is a difference of degree between toxicity and hazard, and the hazard to man in normal good health from naturally occurring toxicants in food is usually slight, because of (a) the small concentrations and (b) antagonistic interactions between toxicants which provide "safety in numbers." Hazard from foods may indeed exist under some circumstances, such as the presence of abnormal contaminants, ingestion of abnormal amounts, or abnormal susceptibility existing in some disease states. However, the major hazards of the dinner table can ordinarily be ascribed to careless food handling, unbalanced or fad diets, or overeating.