Undernourished adults and acetylation phenotype.

The acetylation phenotype of two groups of well-nourished and undernourished male adults living in South India was studied using sulfadimidine as test substance. About 60% of the subjects in both groups were slow acetylators. Nutritional status did not seem to influence the extent of sulfadimidine acetylated when subjects belonged to the same phenotype class. Thus we concluded that undernutrition does not alter the acetylation phenotype of male adults.