Lectins are destructive proteins found mostly in grains (especially wheat), legumes (soybeans), dairy, nuts, and nightshade vegetables (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant). The worst offenders include wheat and soybeans.
Many common health issues that seem to have no cause or cure can be traced back to sensitivities to lectin. When it comes to lectin sensitivities, the remedy can be discovered by making changes to your diet.
Krispin.com provides a helpful illustration of what occurs when you consume lectins. Imagine lectin as a protein containing a key that fits a certain type of lock. The lock is a specific kind of carbohydrate that is found in the cell membranes of every living thing. A lectin that has the right key will be able to open certain carbohydrate locks that are found in cell membranes throughout the body. The lectin binds to a cell, provoking an immune response that damages that cell and others surrounding it.
When you are lectin intolerant, your body is unable to deactivate these toxic proteins. Your intestinal wall becomes permeable, allowing lectins and other toxic substances to escape into your bloodstream. The lectins attach to cells throughout your body, including your glands, organs, and brain.
High-lectin foods affect some people more than others. If you are struggling with issues that include problems with being overweight, mood disorders, or autoimmune diseases, you may be lectin intolerant.
How Lectins Affect Weight Gain
Lectin affects weight gain by disrupting the duties of a hormone called leptin. Leptin is produced within the fat cells and tells your brain when it is time to stop eating. It also performs a variety of other important functions, including blood vessel and bone growth, immunity, fat metabolism, and reproduction.
Those who are obese generally have high amounts of leptin. Giving them even more leptin has been shown to have no significant weight-loss effect. This is because lectins can bind to leptin receptors, rendering leptin’s messaging system ineffective. The brain is never given the message that the body is satisfied, so the eating continues.
How Lectins Trigger Autoimmune Disease
Inflammation of the gut leads to inflammation of the joints. The harm caused by lectins within your intestinal tract can spur an immune response that produces cell-damaging antibodies. These antibodies also damage surrounding cells.
Glucosamine is commonly used as a natural treatment for joint pain. Remember the lock and key illustration? Glucosamine is a carbohydrate that is effective in blocking lectins (the key), specifically wheat lectins, from attaching to carbohydrates in cell membranes (the lock). This process helps to prevent wheat from causing joint inflammation.
If you have been diagnosed with celiac disease yet still suffer from various symptoms, you may find relief after the elimination of high-lectin foods. Both lectins and gluten affect gut permeability, cause inflammation, and wreak havoc on your health.
How Lectins Can Cause Anxiety and Depression
Lectins are often perpetrators when it comes to digestive disorders. They cause damage to intestinal tissue that interrupts nutrient absorption, healthy gut flora, and the ability to push food through and out of the body.
Many people, including doctors, tend to underestimate the gut-brain connection. The vagus nerve, which extends from the gut to the brain, plays a huge role in mood. This is why many people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) also struggle with clinical depression.
Of those who seek treatment for IBS, about 50% to 90% have a psychiatric disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder and major depression. Other digestive problems are also associated with depression and anxiety.
If you think that you may have a lectin sensitivity, there are tests available to measure your antibody levels. The tests don’t cover all types of lectins, so a negative test result doesn’t rule out a lectin sensitivity.
The best way to determine if you have a lectin sensitivity is to try an elimination diet. Remove high-lectin foods, one at a time, for at least one week. Keep a record of how you feel when the possible offenders are eliminated from your meals.
The toxic effects of dietary lectins go beyond digestive problems. Lectins can ruin your weight-loss goals, stimulate autoimmune responses, and be the root cause of a variety of mood disorders. Even though they are contained in all foods, removing high-lectin foods can have a positive effect on your health and just may be the answer you’ve been looking for.
Resources:
Jönsson, Tommy, and Et Al. “Agrarian Diet and Diseases of Affluence – Do Evolutionary Novel Dietary Lectins Cause Leptin Resistance?” BMC Endocr Disord 5 (2005). Print.
Cordain, Loren, and Et Al. “Modulation of Immune Function by Dietary Lectins in Rheumatoid Arthritis.” British Journal of Nutrition 83.3 (2000): 207-17. Print.
Lydiard, R. B. “Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Anxiety, and Depression: What Are the Links?” The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 62 (2001): 46-47. Print.
Mayer, E. A., M. Craske, and B. D. Naliboff. “Depression, Anxiety, and the Gastrointestinal System.” The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (2001): 37. Print.
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Thank you for this article…my doctor put me on a gluten-free diet for thyroid issues so I was aware of lectins and their effects on the body, but I had absolutely no idea that glucosamine prevents wheat lectins from attaching to carbohydrates in cell membranes. Very helpful; I can try using glucosamine to help sweep up any “wheat stragglers” that I might have missed in my food choices.
Does this mean that edamame is an unhealthy snack because it is soybeans?
Great article. Since cutting wayyyy back on grains this past summer, the weight has dropped off and my A1C has dropped from over 8 to near 6. In addition, a number of “I must be getting old” aches and pains have vanished. Thanks Cathe!