Nutrition Videos

Hi! I'm Stelios Pantazis. I'm a doctor and I specialize in medical nutrition and metabolic disorders. Today, I'm talking about lectins. Lectins are proteins contained in plant-based foods that are potentially toxic for our body. However, if you search on the internet, you won't only read negative comments on lectins, but also many positive ones. What's the truth about them? Are they toxic? Are they harmful? Or are they powerful anti-cancer substances, as others claim? Today, you'll find out. To start with, I'll tell you something that happened in Japan 15 years ago, in 2006, when a TV network presented an innovative way to lose weight. They suggested that viewers fry white beans for three minutes, then pulverize them and sprinkle them over the rice and eat them. After a few days, many people that followed this recipe ended up in hospital with poisoning, with symptoms of vomiting, stomach-ache, diarrhoea etc. These people were poisoned by lectins. What we know is that three minutes of frying don't destroy the lectins contained in beans. But nobody eats beans cooked this way. We usually consume beans and butter beans after soaking them through the night, which destroys a big part of the lectins contained in them. If you've soaked the beans, even 15 minutes of boiling destroy 98% of the lectins. If you boil them for half an hour, all lectins have been destroyed. But if you don't soak the beans, then you should boil them for at least one hour, to make sure that there are not so many lectins inside the food that will cause you a problem. Therefore, you now know how to protect yourselves from the lectins contained in beans. Cook them as your mother used to. On the other hand, if you eat canned beans, you should know that there's a small percentage of lectins that survive, but in no case are they harmful to your health. In fact, many studies have claimed over the last years that little lectins in the food are good for your health. Over the last 50 years, many studies have proven that lectins have an impressive ability to distinguish cancer cells from normal cells and make the cancer cells either kill themselves or transform into more normal cells, namely acquire normal cell features. These studies claim that lectins have a powerful anti-cancer effect, especially in the intestine. In general, it is now widely accepted that a diet rich in foods containing a small amount of lectins protects from intestinal cancer and polyps. Therefore, enriching your diet with properly prepared beans and other foods containing little lectins is certainly a really good idea. Moreover, studies have shown that lectins can enter blood circulation and in this way, potentially distinguish the cancer cells in the body, which can lead to anti-cancer effect all over the body, not only locally in the intestine. Unfortunately, in contrast to intestinal cancer, where large studies have proven that lectins reduce its chances, the same hasn't been proven for other types of cancer, because the relevant studies haven't been carried out yet. The initial data, however, show that this is highly possible. Finally, lectins prove once again how important balance is in our diet. A large amount of lectins leads to poisoning. But a small amount of them protects from some types of cancer. Let me add that lectins are not exclusively contained in beans and other legumes, but they are also contained in tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, corn, almonds, squash, melon and in other fruit and vegetables. But these contain very small amounts of lectins that cause no toxicity to the body. In fact, it's very possible that they protect us. In any case, we know that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, dried nuts and legumes is ideal for our health, and for the prevention and treatment of cancer and other chronic illnesses. Therefore, don't be afraid of lectins. In the way we prepare our food, they cause no problem. If you thought this was interesting, please give us a thumbs up. Share it with people who you think might find it interesting and subscribe to our channel in order to get notified when we upload a video. You can also suggest subjects in the comment section. Thank you very much!