In this part of covering all the toxic plant chemicals, we will look at phytic acid; one of the few antinutrients that at least some people actually know exists. While it fades in comparison with some other plant defense toxins, it’s still a very serious and dangerous one. As with all antinutrients, they are simply chemicals that bind to nutrients that the plant, or seed, need in order to grow. Phytic acid is no […]
Saponins are antinutrients that belong to a class of defense chemicals found in abundance in certain plants. They are also known as ‘amphipathic glycosides’ from the soap-like foam they produce when shaken in watery solutions – and the fact that they are used as a model for detergents. The latter is very disturbing, and we’ll get to it in a moment. Saponins have a water-soluble carbohydrate bonded to a fat-soluble triterpene or steroid structure.
Plants, unlike animals, cannot run away from predators. To defend themselves from herbivores, insects, fungi and other threats, they produce toxic defense chemicals. One of them is known as lectins. Lectins are a plant defense mechanism that mainly protect the seeds, but can be found in other parts of the plant as well. As with anything living, the highest priority of the entity is reproduction. Therefore, seeds tend to have a higher concentration of