Rice, Wheat and Potatoes

Lectins: “Invisible Thorns” of the Plant Kingdom

MicroRNAs are only one component of plant foods that stretch beyond the scope of vitamins and minerals … Did you know, for instance, that many of the plants we consume for food, particularly grains and legumes, contain chemical and physical defenses that protect against being eaten?

These include anti-nutrients that interfere with the digestion of starches (anti-amylase), proteins (protease inhibitors), minerals (phytate), and many other similar molecules. Sprouting, fermentation, cooking and processing can sometimes reduce and/or eliminate these substances, but not in all cases.

There is one category, of particular interest, known as lectins. Lectins get their name from the Latin word legere, from which the word “Select” derives – and that is exactly what they do: they select (attach to) a very specific number of biological structures.

Lectins are capable of disrupting the health of the creatures that consume them, often piercing through the protective coating of their digestive tracts, and gaining entry into systemic circulation.

Wheat, for instance, contains an exceptionally small lectin known as wheat germ agglutinin or WGA, which is capable of attaching to the surface proteins of nearly all of its natural predators, from bacterial to fungi, worms to insects, mice to men.

Because all of the these creatures are composed, in part, of the biopolymer n-acetyl-glucosamine, and because WGA is designed to attach – exactly and exclusively – to this glycoprotein (part sugar, part protein), it is Nature’s ingenious way of saying: “Hey, back off!” – at least when it comes to eating excessive amounts of the seed storage form of the mature grass plant, e.g. cereal grains.