Hormesis
Hormesis is a dose-response phenomenon in which a low dose of a toxin has the opposite effect on a biological system than a high dose of the same toxin. It is generally characterized as toxic effects that are beneficial at low doses and harmful at high doses. There is some ambiguity in the more precise definition of the term, however, because some speak strictly of low-dose stimulation of biological endpoints (for example, immune system strengthening), whereas others also use it to refer to low-dose inhibition of biological endpoints (such as tumor formation). Hormesis has long been marginalized in medical and environmental fields. A growing body of evidence suggesting hormetic effects across a wide range of biological organisms and systems, however, has brought increased credibility to the topic. The implications of hormesis are potentially huge, especially in terms of risk assessment policies and research paradigms. Skepticism and controversy persist surrounding the future status and impacts of hormesis as new research, aided by advanced technologies, yields uncertainty and more questions than answers.
History
Ideas similar to hormesis have been vaguely formulated for centuries, including Hippocrates' saying that "likes are cured by likes," Paracelsus's notion that "the dose makes the poison," and Friedrich Nietzsche's famous remark that "what does not destroy me makes me stronger." Hugo Schulz, a German pharmacologist who observed that small doses of poisons stimulated the growth of yeast, was the first to systematically describe hormesis in 1888.
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