Lectin Inflammation
The harm to our body believed to be caused by lectin inflammation is controversial.
Health experts claim our poor health and weight gain are the result of a long list of factors. Many of their solutions are one form or the other of “eat less move more” avoid heavily processed food and eat only vegetables. While this approach will work short term it fails 99% of the time long term. While the expert opinions have merit, there is a hidden piece of the health puzzle that few medical or nutrition professionals understand…lectin. This missing piece just might explain why people who eat what is considered to be a very healthy diet of whole grain, fruits and vegetables still have health and weight challenges.
All living entities instinctively want to propagate the next generation. Plants are no different. To protect themselves from predators plants developed chemical defenses. These defenses use a protein called lectin. This protein causes lots of problems for any insect, mammal or human that tries to eat plant lectin without the right “gut microbes” capable of breaking down lectin in their digestive track. Most lectins while not good for your health will cause only inflammation and diarrhea. However, not all lectins have the same toxicity. Some lectins have the ability to kill you! Only a few molecules of the lectin, Ricin found in the castor bean are all that is needed to kill a human being.
According to Dr Gundry in The Plant Paradox, lectin works in a couple of ways. It causes inflammation or it can mimic hormones like insulin and bind to the G-protein receptors preventing insulin from letting glucose into the body’s cells. In either case the body’s response is to turn glucose into fat. Removing lectin from your diet is important as the inflammation caused by lectin can be a precursor to chronic disease, in addition to weight gain.
The existence of lectin in vegetables and fruits is not new. Many cultures around the world have known about the possible health impacts for hundreds of years. Yet, many health practitioners ignore the affects of lectin because it’s subtle and often takes years before significant symptoms appear. Lectin causing low level systemic inflammation to the GI tract and immune system causes few issues for someone in good health, however this is not the case for someone with marginal health. According to Dr Gundry, lectin may play a significant role in many autoimmune diseases. His proof comes from his crohns and colitis patients. Despite extremely restrictive diets to treat their condition all of them had reached a dead end in their treatments. Yet, many found success by cutting out foods containing lectin and eventually were able to reduce their medications.
The easiest way to visualize lectin’s affect on your body is to think of a bucket of water under a tap with a slow drip. When the bucket is empty the drips are insignificant, when the bucket is full even a single drop is enough to cause the bucket to overflow. The bucket overflowing is your immune system being overwhelmed. Once this happens the systemic low level inflammation morphs into acute inflammation. The outcome is one of the many autoimmune diseases where your body’s immune defenses attack both good and bad cells, bacteria and viruses.
How lectin attacks
Lectin is a class of proteins that are mainly found in plants and some fruits. Any food that is a nightshade (most of the bean family, peanuts, cashews, tomatoes, potatoes, egg plant and peppers) or contains seeds are highly inflammatory due to high concentrations of lectin. Fruit picked before it is ripe has high levels of lectin. Lectin bind to carbohydrates, polysaccharides and sialic acid found in the gut, brain, between nerve endings, in joints and the blood vessel linings. The binding process can interrupt messaging between cells.
The real danger posed by lectin is the long term impact on your gut holobiome. Your gut holobiome starts in your mouth and ends at your anus. A miracle of chemical interactions caused by “microbes” occur in your GI tract, especially the small intestine and to a lessor extent the large intestine that are absolutely critical to your health. Everything from preventing harmful bacterial entering the body to breaking down and absorbing fats, proteins and carbs occurs in the GI tract. Within the GI tract all food is broken down by microbes into single molecules as follows: protein->amino acids, fat->fatty acids, carbs->glucose and fructose. The single molecules pass through the mucosal cells into the portal veins or lymph system. The larger molecules which include fibre, waste products, virus and bacteria stay within the intestine when the mucosal cells are healthy. The only thing keeping this chemical soup from entering your body’s tissues and bloodstream is an intestinal mucosal lining one cell thick (the cells are called enterocytes). The one cell thick lining has to do double duty, let single molecules of fats, proteins and carbs in, but keep out all virus, bacteria and large proteins like lectin out.
Lectin will bind to the intestinal mucosal lining and create Zonulin which forces the enterocyte cells to separate. Once these large molecules compromise the gut wall, your immune system perceives them as invaders and attacks, causing inflammation. Left untreated long enough the breach in the gut wall can lead to systemic acute inflammation which can be a precursor to chronic disease. To prepare for the upcoming battles against the unwanted invaders the body stores energy. The body’s best long term storage of energy is…you guessed it, “fat.” If you gut is not healthy and you are eating foods that constantly compromise your gut wall, then the resulting inflammation will cause you to gain weight. When your gut wall is compromised it is called, “leaky gut.” It can be diagnosed by measuring inflammatory cytokines.
LOF- Inflammation causes weight gain
Molecule Mimicry
Lectin proteins once in the blood stream look similar to many good proteins. The immune system’s toll like receptors (TLR) can’t tell the difference and attack both good and bad proteins (auto immune response). Lectins can bind to cell receptors blocking normal hormones functionality. Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) found in all grains mimics insulin, blocking the cells ability to process glucose. WGA causes a double whammy, cells starve and the excess blood glucose is stored as fat.
Popular diets for autoimmune diseases
If you compare the three popular diets used to treat autoimmune diseases like crohns or colitis, there is a common thread, limit carbs and sugars. Yet, all of the diets while very restrictive still have foods containing lectin. According to Dr Gundry, lectin may play a significant role in many autoimmune diseases. His proof, he has crohns and colitis patients that despite strict diets had reached a dead end in their treatments. Yet, many found success by cutting out foods containing lectin and eventually were able to reduce their medications. A search of the internet comes to the same conclusion.
Gaps derived from the SCD diet
The GAPS Protocol is broken into three parts specifically designed to heal and seal the gut lining, rebalance the immune system, and restore the optimal bacterial ecosystem within the gastrointestinal tract. The Nutritional protocol restricts all grains, commercial dairy, starchy vegetables and all processed/refined carbohydrates while focusing on easily digestible and nutrient dense foods. The Supplementation protocol needs to be tailored to fit the individual healthcare needs of the patient but generally includes a commercial probiotic to provide beneficial bacteria along the GI tract, essential fatty acids, cod liver oil, and targeted digestive support. The Detoxification Protocol enforces natural ways to cleanse the liver and colon through juicing, GAPS Milkshakes, and enemas while reducing the general toxic load by restricting man-made chemicals and heavy metals.
SCD -Specific Carbohydrate Diet created by Sidney Haas
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a group of foods which are grain-free, sugar-free, starch-free, and unprocessed. While removing many foods that are toxic and digestively harmful, the diet remains natural, extremely nourishing and representative of what our ancestors ate.
low FODMAP
Fermentable – meaning they are broken down (fermented) by bacteria in the large bowel
Oligosaccharides – “oligo” means “few” and “saccharide” means sugar. These molecules are made up of individual sugars joined together in a chain
Disaccharides – “di” means two. This is a double sugar molecule
Monosaccharides – “mono” means single. This is a single sugar molecule
And Polyols – these are sugar alcohols (however, they don’t lead to intoxication!)
Lectin Defenses
Body’s Lectin Defenses
1. Mucus and saliva contain muscopolysacchardies (many sugars) which lectins like to bind to. Consider chewing your food at least 20 times before swallowing. Remember when your mother told you to chew your food more, now it makes scientific sense.
2. Stomach acid can digest some lectins but not all. Consider taking a table spoon of apple cider vinegar before every meal to increase the acidity of your stomach acid.
3. Bacteria in mouth and gut will bind with lectins. Consider daily flossing your teeth. The shower is a great place. Gingivitis not only impacts gum health it pushes out the healthy bacteria in the mouth and replaces it with harmful.
4. Mucus lining of the intestine. Consider avoiding lectins, grains containing WGA and fruit not picked locally
Testing for Inflammation
Testing for inflammation is not something that you can do at home. You need a doctor to help out. The trouble is not everyone agrees on what tests indicate systemic inflammation. Here is a list of common inflammation tests and what they mean. Discuss with your doctor your concerns and see what tests they recommend.
- Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) Test measures the red blood cell separation from plasma in mm/hr. A high ESR is an indication of inflammation somewhere in your body.
- C-Reactive protein (CRP) – Non-specific marker of acute phase protein. Certain diseases will cause an increase. HS-CRP is high sensitivity, used to detect heart attacks.
- Plasma Vicosity (PV) – Like ESR only harder to do.
- Red blood cell width (RBW) – shows inflammation due to oxidative stress. Measures the size of red blood cells.
- Fasting insulin level – indication of type 2 diabetics or metabolic syndrome
- HB1AC – Average blood glucose over a 3 month period.
- Serum Feritin – Determines the iron in your blood. Indicates anemia.
Thyroid – your thyroid makes many of the hormones needed for good health.
- Thyroid anti-bodies – indicates autoimmune
- Reverse T3 – indicates elevated cortisol and reverse T3
- Free T4 (thyroxine) and Free T3 (triiodothyronine) – Produced in the liver, only the free part makes it to the cells. Regulates body temperature, metabolism and heart rate.
- Vitamin D – Low levels can indicate thyroid issues and many other conditions such as leaky gut.
- Magnesium – low levels effect thyroid hormone production
- Cortisol – indicates stress