LECTIN-FREE - DIET FAD
In the diet and nutrition world, a buzzword has been kicked around since 2017: Lectins. Have you heard of lectins? Ten years ago, you probably hadn’t heard of glutens, either. Going “lectin-free” is touted as the next big thing in dieting, but this diet is much more fad than fact.
Lectins are a type of protein found in many foods including grains (such as wheat, barley, quinoa, and rice), legumes (peanuts and beans) nightshade vegetables (bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, white potatoes) and dairy. As isolated compounds, they have been researched for many years and can have positive and negative health effects. While some lectins are highly toxic, others are benign.
The problem is that online health gurus are painting all lectins with the same brush, and playing up the negative effects without any evidence to back it up. Saying all lectins are poison is akin to saying that you shouldn’t eat button mushrooms because some foraged mushrooms are toxic. It makes no sense.
What the online rhetoric doesn’t mention is that Americans don’t actually ingest much lectins, so the problems they cite - linking lectins to obesity, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammation – are totally overblown. Before you fall for any of the wacky pseudoscience-advice from the likes of Dr. Gundry, here are the facts.
Lectins 101
There is more than one type of lectin, and different ones can do different things. Scientists are still trying to map out all of the lectins and what they are capable of. And unlike handy lists of how much iron or vitamin C is found in certain foods, there are not easy-to-access lists of the amount of lectins in food, and what each one does.
Lectins are naturally occurring proteins that are found in most plants. Lectins serve a protective function for plants as they grow and help plant cells stick together. Research shows that lectins may have some benefits — they are antimicrobial, help the immune system and have anti-cancer potential. But the same stickiness also makes them difficult to digest and hinder the body’s absorption of certain vitamins. High intake of lectins may damage the lining of the intestine, which lets proteins cross into the bloodstream undigested. This could cause an allergic reaction or increase risk of developing autoimmune diseases. If you have serious food allergies or severe irritable bowel syndrome then it may be beneficial to control the intake of foods with high levels of lectins.
There are a few critical points to note, however. For majority of us, the amount of lectins one would need to consume each day to get to levels that may cause a negative health effect is much higher than any typical diet would include. Most studies on lectins have been done with isolated lectins, not actual foods, and have been conducted in test tubes or in animals, not in people. So there is no evidence to link properly cooked lectin-containing foods to negative health issues.
Some lectins are indeed toxic. But no one eats those! For example, lectins in raw or undercooked kidney beans can cause symptoms that mimic food poisoning, such as vomiting and diarrhea. But that doesn’t mean no one should eat any beans - it just means we shouldn’t eat raw kidney beans.
Cook your beans
Have you ever crunched into a raw kidney bean? I didn’t think so. Hard as rocks, all beans and lentils are inedible in their raw form. Soaking the beans helps as the lectins are water soluble and you will lose a lot them during the process. Further, boiling the beans for 10 minutes eradicates nearly all of the lectins. If you use a slow cooker, this may not bring the beans up to a high enough temperature, so boil the beans for 10 minutes first. Prepared properly, beans have very low lectin levels and are safe to eat. Grains can also be boiled to reduce lectin content. Think about quinoa, rice and barley - boiled first, then eaten, right? Fermenting and sprouting foods can also reduce lectin content. Friendly bacteria in the fermentation process reduce lectins by up to 95%
It’s a fad
Articles that promote the lectin-free diet cite it as a miraculous cure-all for arthritis, multiple sclerosis and even cancer. That’s the first sign it’s a pseudoscience fad - overblown promises of astonishing health benefits without clinical proof.
The next sign of a fad is a long list of foods to eliminate. What’s not allowed on the lectin-free diet? Whole grains, beans, peas, soybeans, lentils, peanuts, seeds, tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, mushrooms, dairy and eggs — they’re all out. That’s a lot of essentials on most people’s grocery list. Obviously - this diet is simply not sustainable, and it unnecessarily cuts out many food sources high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and numerous beneficial phytonutrients.
It’s also a likely fad when everyone - regardless of age, health status or medical needs - is advised to follow the same diet. How can one diet work for everyone? Finally, it’s a fad when scare tactics persuade you to spend money on specific supplements. Of course, anti-lectin advocates sell expensive entirely useless pills (just $79.95 a month) that claim to neutralize or reduce the negative effect of lectins.
Beans are a longevity food
Beans are the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world, the so called “blue zones”: black beans in Nicoya; lentils, garbanzo, and white beans in the Mediterranean; and soybeans in Okinawa. People in the blue zones eat at least four times as many beans as Americans do on average.
The fact is, beans are the consummate superfood. On average, they are made up of 21 percent protein, 77 percent complex carbohydrates (the kind that deliver a slow and steady energy rather than the spike you get from refined carbohydrates like white flour), and only a few percent fat. They are also an excellent source of fiber. They’re cheap and versatile, come in a variety of textures, and are packed with more nutrients per gram than any other food on Earth. Beans are a meal staple in all of the blue zones - with a dietary average of at least a half-cup per day, which provides most of the vitamins and minerals you need. And because beans are so hearty and satisfying, they’ll likely push less healthy foods out of your diet.
Most foods that contain lectins are foods that are commonly recommend as part of a healthy, well-balanced diet. There’s a well-established body of scientific evidence that clearly supports the benefits of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. The health benefits you receive from including those foods in your diet significantly outweigh any questionable benefits from avoiding foods with lectins.
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