Fruit and edible plants lectins: A new possibilities of interaction of food science and biomedicine

Abstract

The consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has been widely recommended mainly due to nutritional intake and biomolecules with antioxidant activity. However, lectins are an important group of non-immune origin proteins present in this food group, that have a significant biological and functional activity, based on the ability to bind specifically and reversibly to carbohydrates present in the cell membrane. In plants, some types of lectins have shown activity acting as part of defense mechanisms against insects. In vitro, there are reports of cytotoxic activity and blocking the spread of cancer cells and immunemodulating activity and antiviral. In the present work together information from different studies that account for the functional significance of lectins and another factor of importance that the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables may have in the daily diet.