favism

an inherited disorder that takes the form of severe haemolytic ANAEMIA (destruction of red blood cells), brought on by eating broad beans. A person having this disorder is sensitive to a chemical present in the beans and also to certain drugs, particularly some antimalarial drugs. It is caused by the lack of a certain ENZYME , glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which plays an important role in glucose METABOLISM . The defective GENE responsible is passed on as a SEX-LINKED dominant characteristic and appears to persist in populations in which it occurs because it also confers increased resistance to malaria.