Welcome to Dishing Up Nutritionist podcast brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

I am Brittany Vincent, a registered and licensed dietitian, and we at Nutritional Weight and Wellness are thrilled

to be celebrating 20 years on air discussing the connection between what you eat and how you feel

while sharing practical real-life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

I just want to say thank you so much for your support and listenership throughout the years.

And I want to get started on today's topic.

I will be answering a nutrition question that we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition

listeners today.

And the question is, can you address lectins and nightshades? Also, what are your thoughts on

my gooms causing inflammation? Should we be consuming these foods or avoiding them? I want to first

start by saying this is not a straightforward answer, and there are a lot of variables that that come into play here and I know that lectins have been a huge buzzword

in the nutrition world for the last several years and I don't think a lot of people

actually understand what lectins are so I want to first start by giving some background

information so lectins are a large class of

carbohydrate binding proteins found in animals, humans, and plants. And I think the role of lectins

in plants is really what pertains to this person's question. In plants, lectins act as a natural defense mechanism

and are important for their survival. Lectins help to prevent insects and other animals from

eating them. They may taste bitter and in some cases even be poisonous. And plant lectins are found in legumes, grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

Some of the foods that contain the highest amounts of lectins are legumes, grains, and nightshades.

So nightshades and legumes were specifically called out on this question. So I'm going to address them more

later in this episode. And it is important to note that there are different types of lectins

found in these foods and not all of them affect you in the same way. And there have been some

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