favism

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favism Acute haemolytic anaemia induced in genetically susceptible people by eating broad beans, Vicia faba. The disease is due to deficiency of the enzyme glucose 6‐phosphate dehydrogenase in the red blood cells, which are then vulnerable to the toxins, vicine and convicine, in the beans. The condition affects some 100 million people world‐wide, and is commonest in people of Mediterranean and Middle‐Eastern descent.

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