Abstract

Role of the Gut Flora in Toxicity and Cancer examines the relationship between the gut microflora and its host. The aim is to provide a comprehensive view of the contribution of the gut flora to foreign compound metabolism in man and laboratory animals. The object has been to relate this bacterial metabolism to toxic events occurring in mammals and to consider the interrelationships of bacterial and mammalian metabolic pathways. The early chapters are set the scene and provide a background to the sections on metabolism of specific groups of compounds which follow. Subsequent chapters encompass the bacterial metabolism of both xenobiotics and food components, and concentrate on those reactions which have actual or potential toxicological and/or clinical importance. The concluding chapters provide assessments of the role of the gut flora in the etiology of cancer, in particular from the point of view of the formation of carcinogens, mutagens, and promotors within the large bowel.