Column #97 

Leaky gut, Crohn’s disease, and other autoimmune diseases are examples of compromised immunity and associated inflammation. Cases of immunodeficiency such as those are usually acquired due to extrinsic factors that affect the patient’s immune system. Examples of extrinsic factors include infections, extremes of age, environmental factors, and the most common, food.

Why food?

In the past 500 million years plants developed highly sophisticated defensive chemical weapons. These toxic defenses are broad-based pesticides that significantly exceed EPA limits allowed for similar man-made pesticides. Humans are vulnerable to them because they haven’t developed the “toxic harmony” required to eat them safely. This is one reason why nightshades are a health issue.

For instance, take the nightshade potato. In the study titled “Potato Glycoalkaloids Adversely Affect Intestinal Permeability and Aggravate Inflammatory Bowel Disease,” the authors said this: “. . . if the potato were to be introduced today as a novel food it is likely that its use would not be approved because of the presence of these toxic compounds.”

The majority of plants eaten today were not in the African hunter-gatherer’s diet. The most recent additions include coffee, cocoa, tea, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, avocados, mangoes, olives, and kiwi fruit. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and mustard were used in ancient times “primarily for medicinal purposes” and only became foods across Europe in the Middle Ages. There are simply too many newly introduced foods and too little time for humans to have developed resistance to the toxins in them.

Unfortunately, consumers fail to realize that “organic” in no way implies toxic free foods. No matter how they are grown, some plants are so toxic they’re deadly. Others, such as nightshades, are insidiously toxic. With the per capita consumption of nightshades in America being about 230 pounds, it’s no surprise that some people are being negatively impacted.

What are nightshades? I’ve simplified the answer by compressing Loren Cordain’s very scientific explanations into a few paragraphs.

Nightshades are flowering plants belonging to the Solanaceae botanical family. Some notorious non-edible nightshades include tobacco, petunias, jimson weed, mandrake, and deadly nightshade. The popular food plants are potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, chili peppers, eggplants, and tomatillos.

The nightshade issue with potatoes is the glycoalkaloid saponins: α-chaconine and α-solanine which may adversely affect intestinal permeability and aggravate inflammatory bowel disease. The primary function of saponins is to protect the plant from microbial and insect attack by dissolving cell membranes of these potential predators. In mammals, including humans who consume saponin containing plants, these substances frequently create pores in the gut lining, thereby increasing intestinal permeability. If they enter the bloodstream in sufficient concentrations, they cause hemolysis (destruction of the cell membrane) of red blood cells.

The primary tomato saponin which causes a leaky gut is the glycoalkaloid, α-tomatine. Although tomatoes typically maintain lower concentrations of glycoalkaloids than potatoes, they are more potent than potatoes in disrupting the intestinal membrane and promoting a “leaky gut.”

Tomatoes contain another anti-nutrient called tomato lectin (TL) which rapidly crosses the gut barrier and enters into the bloodstream in humans. More recently, TL has been employed by the pharmaceutical industry to experimentally deliver large molecular weight drugs across the gut barrier. The simultaneous presence of a saponin and a lectin capable of binding gut tissue has an additive effect upon intestinal permeability. Hence, certain tomatoes and tomato food products contain both saponins and a lectin which compromise intestinal function and promote a “leaky gut.”

Other than black pepper and white pepper, peppers are nightshades that produce capsaicinoids (think pepper spray) that increase intestinal permeability. That makes peppers a threat to human health. The scientific explanation is that capsaicinoids “modulate the absorption of low molecular weight food constituents that are involved in the pathogenesis of food allergy and intolerance.” They are simply bad stuff.

A growing number of scientists now believe that increased intestinal permeability, often times called “leaky gut,” represents a universal environmental triggering event for autoimmune diseases. When the gut becomes “leaky” it’s not a good thing, as the intestinal contents may then have access to the immune system (which in turn becomes activated), thereby causing a chronic low level systemic inflammation known as endotoxemia that may promote cardiovascular disease and diseases of insulin resistance.

If you have a leaky gut, the best dietary approach is to cut back to the very basic nutritional requirements. The ultimate sources are grass-fed meats, Omega-3 poultry, Omega-3 pork, and wild caught seafood with an organ emphasis. Moderate amounts of selected vegetables such as acorn squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, artichoke, asparagus, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, okra, and radish are okay. Go easy with cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, onions, cabbage, spinach, collards, lettuce, kale, bok choy, leeks, rapini, and chard.

After your body has had time to heal, you can slowly add back nutritional food favorites and track your reactions.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

Tomatoes, Vaccines, and Autoimmune Disease By Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor

Consumption of Nightshade Plants, Human Health and Autoimmune Disease By Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor

Potato Glycoalkaloids Adversely Affect Intestinal Permeability and Aggravate Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Bijal Patel, Robert Schutte, et all.

Nature’s Chemicals and Synthetic Chemicals: Comparative Toxicology by Bruce N. Ames, et all.

Immunodeficiency from Wikipedia

Capsaicin From Wikipedia

A Nightshade-Free Spice Pantry

Dining on Pesticides by Ted Slanker

Organically Grown Poisonous Plants by Ted Slanker

Dietary Pesticides (99.99% All Natural)

Got digestive problems? Take it easy on the veggies. by Chris Kresser