In 2020, Tokyo Smoke, a Canadiancannabis company owned by Canopy Growth at the time; pulled every phytol-containing product from their shelves and issued a 48 hour deadline to suppliers, demanding 'written confirmation' if it was included. A year later, David Heldreth, a former CSO of True Terpenes, a company that still listed it as a product; along with Andrew Freedman, investigated the matter, filing a request under the Access to Information Act to unredact the study causing the product removals.[11] In the same year, the Canadian government published an amendmenttoCanadian cannabis regulations regarding "flavours in cannabis extracts".[12]
Insects, such as the sumac flea beetle, are reported to use phytol and its metabolites (e.g. phytanic acid) as chemical deterrents against predation.[13] These compounds originate from host plants.
Indirect evidence has been provided that, in contrast to humans, diverse non-human primates can derive significant amounts of phytol from the hindgut fermentation of plant materials.[14][15]
Phytol has been investigated for its potential anxiolytic, metabolism-modulating, cytotoxic, antioxidant, autophagy- and apoptosis-inducing, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating, and antimicrobial effects.[20]
Phytol is likely the most abundant acyclic isoprenoid compound present in the biosphere and its degradation products have been used as biogeochemical tracers in aquatic environments.[21]
^McGinty, D.; Letizia, C.S.; Api, A.M. (2010). "Fragrance material review on phytol". Food and Chemical Toxicology. 48: S59–63. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2009.11.012. PMID20141879.
^Wierzbicki, A.S. (2007). "Peroxisomal disorders affecting phytanic acid α-oxidation: A review". Biochemical Society Transactions. 35 (5): 881–6. doi:10.1042/BST0350881. PMID17956237.
^Komen, J.C.; Wanders, R.J.A. (2007). "Peroxisomes, Refsum's disease and the α- and ω-oxidation of phytanic acid". Biochemical Society Transactions. 35 (5): 865–9. doi:10.1042/BST0350865. PMID17956234. S2CID39842405.
^Brown, P. June; Mei, Guam; Gibberd, F. B.; Burston, D.; Mayne, P. D.; McClinchy, Jane E.; Sidey, Margaret (1993). "Diet and Refsum's disease. The determination of phytanic acid and phytol in certain foods and the application of this knowledge to the choice of suitable convenience foods for patients with Refsum's disease". Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 6 (4): 295–305. doi:10.1111/j.1365-277X.1993.tb00375.x.
^Zomer, Anna W.M.; Van Der Saag, Paul T.; Poll-The, Bwee Tien (2003). "Phytanic and Pristanic Acid Are Naturally Occuring [sic] Ligands". In Roels, Frank; Baes, Myriam; De Bie, Sylvia (eds.). Peroxisomal Disorders and Regulation of Genes. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Vol. 544. pp. 247–54. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9072-3_32. ISBN978-1-4613-4782-8. PMID14713238.