Welcome to the Dr. Gundry podcast, where Dr. Stephen Gundry shares his groundbreaking research from over 25 years of treating patients with diet and lifestyle changes alone. Dr. Gundry and other wellness experts offer inspiring stories, the latest scientific advancements and practical tips to empower you to take control of your health and live a long, happy life.

I've gotten a ton of recent subscribers to this channel over the last few months.

So today I want to welcome you, who are new, but I want to get back to some basics.

And one of the biggest questions, particularly for you newbies, are

what the heck are lectins and why should I be worried about them?

Now, welcome. I'm of course known for lectins, but if you've never heard of them or why you ought to be interested in them,

this is for you. And if you know all about them, stick around. You might learn some more fun facts.

All right. So what the heck are lectins? Lectins are proteins that are used by plants and actually also animals.

As a defense system, plants were here first.

They had it great before animals arrived because, frankly no one wanted to eat them now when

animals arrived and insects were the first animals plant predators uh plants couldn't run they

couldn't hide they couldn't fight but they're chemists of incredible ability. So they use chemical, biological warfare

to convince an animal that it might not be a good idea

to eat them or their babies, their seeds.

And they have multiple defense mechanisms. They make lectins as one of those, but there are

others. Many of you are familiar with oxalates, which is another plant defense mechanism.

There are tannins, there are glycosides, we could go on and on.

But I became fascinated with lectins because lectins are proteins that are sugar molecules seeking proteins.

They are specifically looking for classes of sugar molecules which are called sciallic acids.

Now, don't let the word acid fool you. These are sugar molecules. They're sometimes called

glycans. We have these sugar molecules in the lining of our gut wall. We have these sugar molecules

in the lining of our blood vessels. We have them lining our blood brain barrier. We have

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