On Sat, 7 Nov 1998, Pearl Shifer wrote:

> Cabbage has "sulphur". Is this the same as "sulfa"?
>
Pearl-
following is from my husband (he is a biochemist)

Sulphur is the British spelling for the chemical element sulfur.  Cabbage
like broccoli, brussell sprouts and other members of that family (ask a
biologist for its name) contain sulfur compounds that give these vegetables
their characteritic odors.  "Sulfa" is shorthand for a class of drugs
called sulfonamides.  These were the first antibiotics developed before
penicillin.  I believe in the 1930's. Sulfonamides do contain the element
sulfur.  It is not the sulfur per se that is important in the action of
sulfonamides, instead it is the overall shape of the molecule that is
important.  Sulfonamides resemble a vitamin, para-aminobenzoic acid
(PABA) that is much more important to bacteria than it is for humans.
Bacteria try to use sulfonamides in place of PABA, but these drugs just
foul up the metabolic pathways.  they are a monkey wrench thrown into the
machine.
        This matter is much more confusing in my native Brooklyn, where
people naturally add "R's" where they don't belong and drop "R's" at the
end of words where they do belong.  Brenda's mother becomes "Brender's
mutha".  Therefore in Brooklyn sulfur is pronounced sulfa and sulfa is
pronounced sulfer.

        Phil Barnett

Sarah Friend Barnett   LLLL, IBCLC
Bronx (New York City), NY  -  [log in to unmask]
" You are not obliged to finish the task,
 neither are you free to neglect it."       R. Tarfon