Hypoglycin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A toxic amino acid compound found in the unripe seeds and arils of the ackee fruit, which can cause severe low blood sugar
2. A poisonous substance naturally present in unripe ackee fruit that blocks the body's normal production of glucose
3. The toxin responsible for Jamaican vomiting sickness, occurring in the immature ackee fruit and disrupting fat and sugar metabolism

Etymology: Hypoglycin is a compound built from "hypoglycemia," the medical term for abnormally low blood sugar, and the chemical suffix "-in," used for many naturally occurring compounds. The name describes what the substance does: it is the toxin behind Jamaican vomiting sickness, and it works by blocking the body's normal fat metabolism, which leaves the liver unable to keep blood glucose up during fasting. The name therefore points to the effect rather than to the plant it was first found in. The compound takes its name from its effect because the chemistry was identified only after the illness was studied. Its name is a modern scientific coinage, formed from Greek and Latin elements rather than from any older word, so it has no ancient history of its own. Its story is entirely about the 20th-century investigation of a poisoning linked to the ackee fruit.