Research

[katebuggie28]

Just wanted to know if anyone on here has researched antinutrients, lectins and glycoalkaloids? If so what if anything did you dechiper from the information. Did any of the information cause you to change your eating habits ever further?

[RiceGuy]

I believe Ursa Major will be able to address your question quite well. Although I have done some poking around on the subjects in question, I concluded that most of what I cannot eat I already know about. I do know nightshades are toxic to everyone though, and that it is only a matter of how much a person notices the effects. Some of us are simply more sensitive to them. Since lectins are in so many veggies to varying degrees, I figure they can't be all that harmful to everyone. But we're all different, so it's good to be able to listen close to what your body is telling you.

On anti-nutrients, I think many if not all nutrients are balanced by others. For instance, potassium tends to balance sodium. Calcium and iron should be ingested at different times in order to be effectively absorbed. Magnesium can inhibit calcium absorption too. There are untold numbers of these types of interactions, but I believe it just underscores the importance of a well balanced and widely varied diet. That's not to say there aren't compounds in foods which are mostly detrimental, but the specific levels of those compounds aren't usually very high. In those cases where they are highly toxic, we generally don't regard them as edible.

I'd like to think our natural food sources are the way they are for good reasons, even if we don't fully understand why. But how our individual makeup plays a part in the scheme is something which, sadly, each of us needs to figure out. That saying "nobody's perfect" comes to mind.

That's my two cents.

[Ursa Major]

There are a number of foods very high in lectins. Those include all grains (which includes rice and corn), eggs, all dairy, legumes (including soy) and nightshade foods (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tobacco).

Nightshade foods are also high in oxalates, which will cause or aggravate arthritis in many people.

I was investigated for arthritis several times, because of the crippling pain in my joints. But x-rays never showed anything. Now it is obvious that the joint pain was caused by lectin foods (besides other symptoms, including gastrointestinal distress, brain fog and others).

Here is a link to a great website about lectins, where these things are explained much better than I can explain them:

Open Original Shared Link

[RiceGuy]

I hadn't really looked into the whole lectin thing in-depth, but I find it interesting how lectins and gluten are so intertwined. Aside from the very informative link Ursa Major posted, here's one I just found: Open Original Shared Link

The only word I have right now is: Amazing!