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By Greg Arnold, March 23, 2004, Abstracted from "Modulation of
immune function by dietary lectins in rheumatoid arthritis" in the
British Journal of Nutrition; Volume 83 Number 3, pp. 207-17
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The undeniable fact about rheumatoid arthritis is that it is a disease of inflammation. What is also undeniable is the link between gut inflammation and joint inflammation. The debatable point here is exactly how gut inflammation causes joint inflammation. In a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers have started to point to dietary lectins as a cause of gut permeability that allows pathogenic foreign bodies to enter circulation and cause joint inflammation.
Dietary lectins are glycoproteins found in food staples such as cereal grains and legumes. These dietary lectins influence the structure and function of the lining of the intestines, particularly the enterocytes.2 Perhaps the most popular lectin mentioned in the media is gluten. Gluten is heat-stable and resistant to digestive proteolytic breakdown and has been recovered intact and biologically active in human feces.3 Lectins bind surface glycans on gut brush-border epithelial cells, causing damage to the base of the villi which includes disarrangement of the cytoskeleton and shortening of the microvilli, the "brushes" in the intestines responsible for absorption.2 These structural changes result in increased permeability4 and may facilitate the passage of undegraded dietary antigens into systemic circulation.2
When looking at possible treatment options to quell the inflammation and help your gut restore its normal function, consider an elemental diet. Elemental diets are liquid diets that contain all the nutrients your body needs. The nutrients are usually in digested form so they put no stress on the digestive system. Elemental diets supply all your nutritional needs while giving your digestive system a rest. Elemental diets have been shown to be as effective as corticosteroids in treating the disease, and most subjects (84 %) achieve disease remission with elemental diets, with the most frequent food intolerances seen to cereals, dairy products and yeast.1
References:
1. Riordan AM. Treatment of active Crohn's disease by exclusion diet: East Anglian multicentre controlled trial. The Lancet 1993; 342: 1131-1134
2. Pusztai A1 (1993) Dietary lectins are metabolic signals for the gut and modulate immune and hormone functions European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1993; 47: 691-699
3. Brady PG. Identification of the dietary lectin, wheat germ agglutinin, in human intestinal contents Gastroenterology 1978; 75: 236-239
4. Sjolander A. The effect of concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin on the ultrastructure and permeability of rat intestine, International Archives of Allergy and Applied Immunology 1984; 75: 230-236
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