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Protective Mechanisms and Susceptibility to Xenobiotic Exposure and Load

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Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy

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Abstract

Contemporary humans typically get regular exposure to more than 100,000 industrial chemicals, most of which are not well-understood toxicologically. Evolutionary mechanisms, including xenobiotic-sensing nuclear receptors that influence expression of genes controlling the various biotransformation phases, have evolved to cope with exposure to both endogenous and exogenous xenobiotics. However, xenobiotic load and diversity have changed dramatically as a result of industrialization and globalization, and there is growing evidence that a significant burden of chronic diseases is now mediated, at least in part, by environmental chemicals. This chapter considers this background, along with the emerging science of biotransformation, and the pathophysiology of major chronic diseases associated with xenobiotics, including those mediated by the dysregulation of nuclear xenobiotic receptors such as pregnane X receptor (PXR), constitutive androstane receptor (CARs), hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR), and estrogen receptors (ERs). Direct or inferred associations between specific xenobiotic compounds and interacting genes are revealed by analysis of the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), in addition to a summary of the latest International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monographs identifying recognized or probable human carcinogens. This chapter includes advice for clinicians aiming to identify their patients’ exposure to xenobiotics, prior to reducing total/net exposure or load, and modifying dietary and lifestyle approaches with a view to enhancing biotransformation and elimination of xenobiotic metabolites.

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  1. Science Unit, Alliance for Natural Health International, Dorking, Surrey, UK

    Robert H. Verkerk

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Correspondence to Robert H. Verkerk .

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  1. Noland Nutrition, Burbank, CA, USA

    Diana Noland

  2. Professor Emeritus, School of Medicine, University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Jeanne A. Drisko

  3. Department of Dietetics & Nutrition, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Leigh Wagner

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Verkerk, R.H. (2020). Protective Mechanisms and Susceptibility to Xenobiotic Exposure and Load. In: Noland, D., Drisko, J., Wagner, L. (eds) Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy. Humana, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30730-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30730-1_13

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