General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says [View all]undergroundpanther
(11,925 posts)Nature engineers, within all species, a set of defenses against predation, though not all are as obvious as the thorns on a rose or the horns on a rhinoceros. Plants do not have the cell-mediated immunity of higher life forms, like ants, nor do they have the antibody driven, secondary immune systems of vertebrates with jaws. They must rely on a much simpler, innate immunity. It is for this reason that seeds of the grass family, e.g. rice, wheat, spelt, rye, have exceptionally high levels of defensive glycoproteins known as lectins. Cooking, sprouting, fermentation and digestion are the traditional ways in which man, for instance, deals with the various anti-nutrients found within this family of plants, but lectins are, by design, particularly resistant to degradation through a wide range of pH and temperatures.WGA lectin is an exceptionally tough adversary as it is formed by the same disulfide bonds that make vulcanized rubber and human hair so strong, flexible and durable. Like man-made pesticides, lectins are extremely small, resistant to break-down by living systems, and tend to accumulate and become incorporated into tissues where they interfere with normal biological processes.
Ricin is another kind of lectin BTW.
Hemagglutinating activity is found in the processed wheatgerm, peanuts, and dry cereals. Several lectins are resistant to proteolytic digestion e.g., wheatgerm agglutinin, tomato, lectin, and navy bean lectin.
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/lectins.html
Lectins are poisons in wheat,it is even extracted and sold.So it exists.
http://www.vectorlabs.com/catalog.aspx?prodID=340