Dietary lectins and disease (incl. RA)

August 20, 1999

Do dietary lectins cause disease? A British Medical Journal editorial that

describes the role of dietary lectins in disease, including RA. Includes an

observation on use of glucosamine in RA.

August 22, 1999

Deb, I'm not a medical type either, but I would think that you'd have to know

whether the IGg molecule returns to normal with the AP to answer that. What

interested me was the suggestion that perhaps the use of G/CS could bind lectins

and theoretically they would not trigger a response then. To me, as a layman

this seems to be suggesting that this may be a useful treatment to hold down

disease activity. This is the first small bit of evidence I've seen to suggest

that glucosamine may be of benefit in RA as well as in OA.

I notice that the authors are rather cautious, note the use of " suggests " ,

" suspected " and a lot of " if " 's . The only thing they seem to be confident on

is that these dietary substances from starchy foods and nightshades do seem

strongly associated with diabetes, coeliac and diet-responsive RA. So

personally, I consider that this article just adds a bit more reinforcement to

what we have already been told to do by our AP advisors in terms of diet, and

offers a bit of encouragement that the infectious theory is right, since it says

that infections can cause this kind of alteration to the immune cells (stripping

of the sialic acid from the tips of the carbohydrate chains) which allows the

lectins to bind to them and set the stage for an autoimmune response. I get the

impression that a lot of research by immunologists is called for before anyone

will be able to answer your question. Liz G

Recommended Posts