The consumption of plant-based foods, that includes not only the consumption of fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes and beans, has shown to have beneficial effects on body weight, glycemic control, lipid profile, inflammatory response and cardiovascular disease.
In addition, recent ecological studies have observed a lower COVID-19 death rate in those countries with a higher consumption of vegetables.
Antinutrients such as lectins, glucosinolates, phytates, oxalates, goitrogens are plant compounds which have traditionally been considered harmful to health due to their potential to limit the bioavailability of essential nutrients.
However, in recent years, these so-called anti-nutrients have become known to possess beneficial effect and therapeutic potential on several diseases.
Goitrogens are mainly found in cruciferous plants such as broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage, among others. Consumption of goitrogens cause an altered thyroid function. Goitrogens may reduce the release of iodine from the thyroid gland by acting as a competitive inhibitor of the sodium/iodide symporter of follicular thyroid cell.
The consumption of this type of food cooked with iodized salt should be prioritized to reduce the possible adverse effect on iodine bioavailability.
Phytates are another such “anti-nutrient” found in cereals, pulses, nuts and seeds.
Phytates can form soluble complexes with divalent cations such as zinc, iron and calcium under the acidic pH in the stomach and precipitate at physiological pH in the intestine, reducing their bioavailability in the digestive tract.
Fermentable fibers are able to reduce the pH of the caecum, leading to reduction of ferric iron to ferrous iron, and an increase in the absorption of these minerals.Ascorbic acid forms a soluble complex with iron, which would facilitate the reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+ by preventing the formation of non-absorbable iron complexes.
Concentration of phytates is significantly reduced with techniques such as cooking, soaking, fermentation and germination.
