Phytochemicals Natural Antibiotics and Antioxidants
Plants are mean and sneaky. They are natural organic chemists and make the nastiest toxins on earth. Never trust a plant. Eat them at your peril… or because they taste good. Phytoalexins Plants are Fast and Lethal I was shocked when people started to laud the virtues of phytochemicals. I thought that they must have alkaloid poisoning. My PhD training involved separating and measuring the antifungal chemicals produced by soybean cotyledons exposed to the wall polysaccharides of a pathogenic fungus. The plants would go crazy and produce a witch’s brew of toxins to provide protection from the fungus. I eventually wrote a chapter on these toxic natural antibiotics, phytoalexins, for the Encyclopedia of Science and Engineering. All plants produce these chemicals and as one might expect, seeds/nuts are provided with special protection to avoid being digested. Lignin Plants are Natural Chemical Killers I developed a profound respect for the ab...