Flavonoids and heart disease

linkage.Until recently, for example, the cause of Young's syndrome remained obscure.Young's syndrome occurs in men with bronchiectasis and is characterised by azoospermia due to epididymal obstruction.16No link has been found with mutations of the cystic fibrosis gene.18The syndrome was particularly prevalent in Britain and Australia between 1960 and 198016 but is now rarely seen.17In 1993 Hendry et alnoted that many men with Young's syndrome had a history of Pink's disease in infancy.18Pink's disease disappeared around 1960 with the removal of mercury from teething powders, and the disappearance ofYoung's syndrome some 30 years later raises the strong possibility that exposure to mercury in infancy may have caused both Pink's disease and Young's syndrome through mechanisms yet to be elucidated.Such examples, and our growing understanding of the vulnerability of the male reproductive system to environmental factors, highlight the need for vigilance.Regulatory and research agencies need to determine the most appropriate methods of assessing the actions of agents on the reproductive system, and should undertake whatever studies are necessary to confirm or refute the emerging hypotheses.Delay may compromise the fertility offuture generations.