What Are Lectins?
Lectins are a family of proteins that are highly specific for certain sugars. They play an important biological role in the recognition process of the polysaccharides present on cell membranes.
What are the foods that do not contain lectins?
Among the safest plant foods, in terms of lectin content, are asparagus, garlic, celery, mushrooms and onions. Other excellent choices that you can eat without restrictions are: Cooked tubers (root vegetables) such as sweet potatoes, yucca and taro. Leafy vegetables.
How to fight lectins?
The best way to neutralize lectins when cooking is to use the pressure cooker. Gundry says: "To cook beans, tomatoes, potatoes or quinoa, the pressure cooker is the best solution ... It does not reduce the lectin content of wheat, oats, rye, barley and spelled." .
What foods contain lectins?
Lectins are naturally occurring proteins found in most plants, where they play the role of defense against any parasites. Raw legumes (beans, lentils, peas, soy, peanuts) and whole grains, such as wheat, contain the highest amounts of lectins.
What do lectins do?
Lectins are a type of protein found in plants. They perform a protective function against bacteria, viruses, pathogenic fungi and some predatory insects.
Lectins in food: are they a problem?
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Where are the lecithins found?
The l. it is found abundantly in soybeans and to a lesser extent also in vegetable oils, egg yolk, walnuts, cereals.
What is meant by anti-nutritional factors?
The anti-nutritional factors are very numerous in the plant kingdom! For this we can find in our diet anti-nutritional factors that prevent the conversion of proteins into amino acids, as well as anti-vitamins, anti-hormones, anti-mineralizers or even food allergens!
How to eliminate saponins?
The most effective home method to eliminate saponins from pseudocereals is by rinsing or soaking them with water. Then: Weigh the quantity of pseudocereal you want to cook. Put it in a tightly meshed colander.
What are phytates?
Phytic acids, or phytates, are some of the main anti-nutritional factors, that is, capable of limiting the absorption or use of nutrients that are important for our health.
What is phytic acid used for?
Phytic acid (also known as inositol hexaphosphate or IP6) is a unique substance that serves as the primary storage form of phosphorus in plants, which is important for germination and sprout development.
What are the phytates of legumes?
Due to incorrect preparation and cooking of legumes and cereals, it is often said not to digest them. ... Phytic acid, contained in cereals and legumes, forms insoluble compounds (phytates) with numerous mineral elements (calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium), which are no longer absorbed by the intestine but eliminated with the faeces.
Where are the phytates and tannins found?
Like oxalates and phytates, tannins also inhibit the absorption of some minerals, in particular calcium and iron; they are contained in nerve drinks (tea or coffee), grapes, persimmons and wine.
How to get rid of quinoa saponins?
Subsequently, the quinoa seeds must be left to soak for half an hour: after a while a white patina will appear on the surface of the water, which is the saponin that the quinoa is expelling. Now you can put the seeds in a small mesh bowl and rinse them under running water.
How to Eliminate Antinutrients?
Fermentation, for example of soy (miso, natto, tempeh), but also of vegetables such as sauerkraut or lacto-fermented vegetables, kefir and yogurt, make foods more easily digestible, remove antinutrients and bring beneficial effects to the body.
What are quinoa saponins?
Saponins are heterosides formed by the union of a sugary part (in quinoa saponins this part is composed of glucose, arabinose, galactose) and a molecule (not sugary) called aglycone or sapogenin. ... Among the most common plants, licorice, oats and basil contain saponins.
What are the anti-nutritional factors of legumes?
On the other hand, legumes contain two anti-nutritional factors: phytates, substances with the ability to bind minerals by decreasing their absorption and antitryptic factors that hinder the action of trypsin, an enzyme necessary for the digestion of proteins; for this reason the food combination ...
What are the anti-nutritional factors of fruit?
- Cyanogenic glycosides: they are present in fruit seeds
Its ingestion in high doses causes the same symptoms of cyanide poisoning (dry mouth, vomiting, abdominal pain and in severe cases, coma and death). How to eliminate them? Avoid ingesting all the seeds contained in the fruit.
What are the main anti-nutritional factors present in vegetables?
Vegetables contain anti-nutritional factors, which can decrease the nutritional value of foods and diets, hindering the absorption of some nutrients: among them are included enzymatic inhibitors, substances that block the activity of different enzymes (proteases, amylases), substances with toxic action, such as, ...
How is soy lecithin obtained?
In nature, lecithin can be extracted chemically (with hexane) or mechanically from vegetable oils, especially soybean oil. Lecithin is not extracted from the seed as it is but from the oil.
How to remove the bitterness from quinoa flour?
When using quinoa seeds, the way to eliminate saponins is to soak the seeds in plenty of water, with a little vinegar, then rinse thoroughly. In this way it loses its bitter taste.
How is cooked quinoa preserved?
Once cooked, quinoa can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days, or it can also be frozen and stored in the freezer.
What happens if I eat raw quinoa?
Better not to eat it raw
The grains contain saponins, a substance that quinoa produces to avoid becoming food for birds. It takes no less than 30 minutes to soak, both to eliminate the saponin and to make it less bitter. ... But to be digestible, quinoa must be cooked well.
Where are phytates found?
Phytates are mainly found in cereals and legumes, where they are concentrated in seeds and fibrous parts; for this reason they are abundant in wholemeal products and practically absent in refined ones.
Where are the antinutrients found?
Where are antinutrients found? We find them in legumes, grains, almonds, hazelnuts and peanuts. To neutralize them, it is essential to subject foods to a particular treatment.
What is tannin used for?
All about tannin, a defense from plants that is used to dye fabrics, and is also found in wine, beer and other beverages. Tannin is found in tree barks and in some types of fruit: its role is to defend the plant and it does so by making it less tasty.
