The Natural Insecticide In Red Beans And Rice
If you’ve ever felt sick after eating undercooked beans or rice, you know how it feels to ingest lectins, a family of proteins that act like a natural insecticide.
Eating too much undercooked lectin can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
The problem is that lectins stop the cells in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract from repairing themselves from the tears that occur during digestion.
When the cells can’t repair tears, they die. So the contents of your digestive tract come into contact with your blood supply.
Your body’s natural response is to protect you by eliminating the contents of your GI tract. That’s why you experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Longer term, the ingestion of lectin is associated with colorectal cancer and celiac disease (where people are sensitive to gluten, a protein in wheat).
Lectin is one of the top 10 causes of food poisoning. But it’s rarely lethal because your body is so good at eliminating the problem.
It’s important to cook beans and rice thoroughly. That will destroy most, but not all of the lectin.
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