Anti-Nutrients: Are the Concerns Real? by Jerry Brainum 10/21

 

In 2017, former cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Steven Gundry published a book titled The Plant Paradox: The hidden dangers in "healthy" foods that cause disease and weight gain." The book quickly rose to the top of the best-seller list and convinced many that foods thought to be healthy contained hidden toxic substances that were closely associated with many diseases, with the most notable being auto-immune diseases, where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Gundry ascribed these health problems to the presence of a substance called lectins in the foods. Lectins are proteins found in many foods, but primarily in legumes, grains, and nightshade veggies like tomatoes and eggplants. Gundry said that lectins are proteins produced in plants that function as protective factors to ensure plant survival. This is similar to the way resveratrol, another natural plant product works. But while lectins help plants to survive, according to Gundry, they aren't so desirable for humans to consume. Landry offers evidence in his book that consuming lectins in food can cause systemic inflammation, intestinal damage, and even weight gain. In one YouTube video, an Australian physician cited a study showing that lectins attach to insulin receptors even more potently than insulin itself and in doing so, promotes an increase in lipogenesis, or the increased storage of fat. But that was an isolated cell study that exposed cells to concentrations of lectin far above that which would be consumed by any human. 

Many of those who read Gundry's book became convinced that lectins are metabolic poisons and followed Gundry's lectin-elimination diet. But those with considerably more nutritional expertise than Gundry noted some significant problems with Gundry's statements about the alleged toxicity of lectins.For one, many of the foods prohibited in Gundry's anti-lectin diet were among the healthiest foods known, with proven track records towards the prevention, rather than the causation of various diseases. Since many fruits and vegetables contain substantial amounts of lectin, if what Gundry was saying were true, vegans who live entirely on diets consisting of fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts should all be experiencing miserable health and should show high mortality rates. But that isn't what's happening. The type of eating style considered to be the healthiest year-round diet, namely the Mediterranean diet, is top-heavy in the same foods that are condemned by Gundry because of their lectin content. Yet, besides a stringent calorie-restricted diet, the Mediterranean diet is considered the only diet that will maximize longevity for most people. Clearly, there is a disconnect between what Gundry espouses and what happens in the real world. The longest-lived people in the world who reside in "blue zones" also rely on the foods condemned as "poisons" by Gundry.

There are several obvious problems with Gundry and his ideas. For one, he is not a nutrition expert. The public often wrongly confers . . .