Are We Gaining Weight from Fake Plant Insulin from Tomatoes?

We know that some plant compounds are poisonous to us, and some of these compounds are also found in foods that we commonly eat. Our ancestors therefore developed a number of sophisticated methods for preparing such foods so that they would not harm us. Lectins are among these compounds, and you can read about them, for example, in the book called "The Plant Paradox" by Dr. Steven Gundry.

I was going through previously saved studies and one caught my attention: it reported that some plant lectins mimic the effects of insulin, sometimes even better than insulin itself. They act on insulin receptors for a longer period of time, and the effects can be seen as suppression of lipolysis as well as activation of lipogenesis. In other words, they make sure that we can easily store fat, but also that we never use it. These are test-tube experiments. We therefore do not know whether these experiments have any practical impact on real life. But if diseased intestines can allow bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to pass through, they may also allow plant lectins to enter the bloodstream. These experiments may therefore also be relevant to everyday life. We already know that activation of the cannabinoid receptor CB1 can specifically activate intestinal permeability. This is probably part of the immune system's response to fighting bacterial infection.

Could the combination of activators of the endocannabinoid receptor CB1 together with the presence of lectins from plant foods in the diet therefore produce obesity? What do the studies tell us? Unfortunately, AI did not confirm for me that activation of CB1 (for example by plant oils) somehow affects the harmfulness of lectins. My conclusion is that this possibility has not been studied yet, and the combination of CB1 activation with the presence of some lectins may be highly relevant to the development of obesity.

Banana lectin (BL) and garlic lectin (GL) can substitute for insulin.
C-IM - control, IIM - insulin stimulation, IBM - banana lectin, and IGM - garlic lectin,

Yes, some lectins produce an effect similar to high insulin levels in a test tube. Which ones are they?

Some lectins suppress lipolysis; the lower the number, the greater the effect.

Quote

"Generally speaking, the mannose-binding lectins, Concanavalin A, garden pea Iectin, sweet pea lectin and lentil lectin had the highest lipogenic and antilipolytic activities of all the lectins examined. The N-acetylglucosamine-binding wheat germ and tomato lectins markedly inhibited hormone-induced lipolysis and enhanced lipogenesis from glucose and generally speaking, their activities were the second highest. Although wheat germ a~lutinin binds both N-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid (Bhavanandan and Katlic, 1979; Goldstein and Haynes, 1978), it has been shown previously that the sialic acid-binding horseshoe crab lectin (Ng et al., 1985) and presently that the N-acetylglucosamine-binding tomato lectin possess insulin-like activities, indicating that the activity of wheat germ lectin is attributed to its ability to bind both types of carbohydrate residues."

End of quote from the 1989 study

So in the case of obesity, we really should avoid certain foods, or at least make sure they are thoroughly cooked. In their raw state, they can potentially behave like an insulin injection.

Is there any more recent research? Let's look at a 2011 study examining banana lectin (BL) and garlic lectin (GL).

Quote

"These data are commensurate with the data obtained in the earlier experiments and clearly show that the lectin-mediated adipogenesis involves active signaling mechanisms that are very similar to that evoked by insulin." 

"Marrow-derived mesenchymal cells have the capacity to differentiate along various pathways to form bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle and adipose tissue (Pittenger et al. 1999). Though the role of adipocytes in the regulation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is a debated issue (DiMascio et al. 2007; Naveiras et al. 2009; Sera et al. 2009), the adipose tissue is known to be a reservoir of stem cells (De Ugarte et al. 2003). In this study, we have shown that M210B4—a mouse marrow-derived mesenchymal cell line—undergoes an adipogenic differentiation in response to the lectins. It is thus possible that the enhanced stem-cell pool that was observed by us in the lectin-fed mice could partly be attributed to the adipogenic nature of these lectins. Though the mice fed for 28 weeks with these lectins did not show any significant increase in weight (Hinge et al. 2010), the adherent cells present in the cultures of the marrow cells isolated from the lectin-fed mice spontaneously underwent adipogenic differentiation (our unpublished data). Though preliminary in nature, these results suggest that the lectins perhaps induce an adipogenic commitment in the marrow mesenchymal cells, but they need some other factor(s) to undergo a frank adipogenic differentiation in vivo."

"In summary, our data clearly show that two mannosespecific dietary lectins, BL and GL, induce adipogenic differentiation of mesenchymal cells via active signaling mechanisms and also underscore the need to investigate the possible involvement of the dietary constituents in the tissue differentiation processes. The present data, taken together with our earlier published results (Hinge et al. 2010), indicate that the lectin-mediated changes in the mesenchymal cells that participate in the formation of stroma for various tissues and organs may indirectly affect the function of the stem cells. Thus, a detailed study on the effect of dietary lectins on the tissue-specific stem cells may yield valuable information about the diet-mediated regulation of tissue homeostasis."

End of quote from the 2011 study

I am not aware of any more recent study. These findings are quite serious as well. What follows from them?

If your digestive system is in good condition, there is probably nothing to worry about. But if it is not, plant lectins may significantly modulate systemic insulin signaling and may affect virtually all tissues in the body.


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References:

Bound Lectins that Mimic Insulin Produce Persistent Insulin-Like Activities

Effects of lectins with various carbohydrate binding specificities on lipid metabolism in isolated rat and hamster adipocytes

Mannose-binding dietary lectins induce adipogenic differentiation of the marrow-derived mesenchymal cells via an active insulin-like signaling mechanism

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