L-canavanine - A cause of autoimmune disease?

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"L-canavanine, affects B-cell function resulting in autoimmune phenomena and providing a new animal model of autoimmunity, a diet-induced systemic lupus erythematosus."

Taken from here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3876146

I know... it's only a preliminary test on mice but if it is true, this could be huge! And there could be others. Does it seem like plant proteins might be a problem?

 

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L-canavanine is found in alfalfa sprouts and alfalfa seeds, but not other foods we eat, as far as I can gather. And its ill effects seem to be mainly connected to lupus, rather than autoimmune diseases in general.

This New York Times article says:

L-canavanine takes the place of a related human amino acid, arginine, in forming proteins; the body then regards these proteins as foreign and launches an immunological attack against them.

The effect of alfalfa sprouts was discovered by Dr. M. Rene Malinow, a specialist in cardiovascular diseases at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in Beaverton.

While testing the purported cholesterol-lowering ability of alfalfa sprouts, he started eating dried sprouts himself in large quantities. After consuming three ounces of dried sprouts (the equivalent of about 27 ounces of ordinary sprouts) every day for five months, he became ill with what turned out to be an autoimmune form of anemia. A more careful look at the monkeys, who were consuming a diet of 40 percent dried alfalfa sprouts, revealed that several of the animals had developed a spectrum of autoimmune problems that mimicked SLE.

When Dr. Malinow and the monkeys were taken off the alfalfa diet, their disease disappeared.

Dr. Malinow said that the amounts of alfalfa sprouts a person might ordinarily consume should not be harmful, but he suggested that people with SLE might be wise to avoid eating sprouts altogether. He added that just the seeds and sprouts, not the mature alfalfa plant, contains L-canavanine.

 

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L-canavanine is found in alfalfa sprouts and alfalfa seeds, but not other foods we eat, as far as I can gather. And its ill effects seem to be mainly connected to lupus, rather than autoimmune diseases in general.

Lupus erythematosus is a collection of autoimmune diseases.
So saying that "this has to do with Lupus and not autoimmune disease" is like saying "we are getting fructose from apples and not from fruit".

“L-canavanine is a common non-protein amino acid found naturally in alfalfa sprouts, broad beans [also known as “fava beans”], jack beans, and a number of other legume foods [including sword beans] and animal feed ingredients"

taken from here: http://www.gnolls.org/2982/anti-nut...d-the-limitations-of-n1-self-experimentation/

so no, L-canavanine is not only found in alfalfa sprouts and alfalfa seeds.

Lets not be so quick to dismiss this. It sounds pretty serious to me.
Think about how many other "plant proteins" might have a similar effect that we don't already know about.

 

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“L-canavanine is a common non-protein amino acid found naturally in alfalfa sprouts, broad beans [also known as “fava beans”], jack beans, and a number of other legume foods [including sword beans] and animal feed ingredients"

I stand corrected. I was only able to find alfalfa sprouts and seeds as a food source of L-canavanine when I Googled. But I cannot find any info on how much L-canavanine each of these foods contain; it possible that alfalfa may contain the highest amounts.

Lupus erythematosus is a collection of autoimmune diseases.

So is multiple sclerosis for example: there are different types. But if you look at this list of accepted and suspected autoimmune diseases, lupus is only one of many.

Though Dr Malinow developed an autoimmune form of anemia from alfalfa, so clearly it is not just lupus that it can trigger.

Lets not be so quick to dismiss this. It sounds pretty serious to me.

I don't think it sounds serious, but it is interesting nonetheless. Even the discoverer Dr Malinow does not think occasional consumption of these food will do much harm. It took eating 27 ounces (765 grams) of alfalfa sprouts every day for 5 months before Dr Malinow developed an autoimmune form of anemia. Thats a hell of a lot of alfalfa sprouts.

And then when he stopped the illness cleared up. So this is not the same as regular autoimmune diseases, which do not clear up.

 

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I don't think it sounds serious, but it is interesting nonetheless. Even the discoverer Dr Malinow does not think occasional consumption of these food will do much harm. It took eating 27 ounces (765 grams) of alfalfa sprouts every day for 5 months before Dr Malinow developed an autoimmune form of anemia. Thats a hell of a lot of alfalfa sprouts.

And then when he stopped the illness cleared up. So this is not the same as regular autoimmune diseases, which do not clear up.

That is a lot of alfalfa sprouts. but other plant proteins like gluten which have been increased due to genetic modifications (to help us) have been known to cause problems as well. We aren't plants. We are animals and IMO we should be getting our proteins from animal sources. Not plant proteins.

 

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That is a lot of alfalfa sprouts. but other plant proteins like gluten which have been increased due to genetic modifications (to help us) have been known to cause problems as well.

Lectins in plants have been researched for possible ill effects, including a role in autoimmunity. Anti-nutrients like phytic acid in plants can impede the absorption of the nutrients and vitamins in plants. And gluten is the known cause of celiac disease and gluten intolerance. So there is no denying plant foods do contain substances which can be harmful to health.

We aren't plants. We are animals and IMO we should be getting our proteins from animal sources. Not plant proteins.

So the logic is if you are an animal, you need to eat animal proteins? How does that logic apply to herbivore animals like rabbits, cows and horses?

 

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So the logic is if you are an animal, you need to eat animal proteins? How does that logic apply to herbivore animals like rabbits, cows and horses?

You have got me there. I'm not referring to food in general. Just our source of protein.