Anti-nutrients or anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) are substances found in dormant foods. Dormant foods are pulses (dried beans, peas and lentils), whole grains (whole kernels or groats eg whole millet, brown rice, barley, quinoa), nuts and seeds.
Examples of ANFs are lectins and phytic acid. As is explained really nicely more fully here these substances keep these foods dormant and resistant to spoilage and resistant to being eaten by pests (and this includes us!) until conditions favourable to germination occurs (i.e. rain/water and sun/warmth), whereupon they go into sprouting mode.
These ANFs can have various detrimental effects on our digestion and our health in general, if eaten in the amounts they occur in these dormant foods as they are when taken straight from the plant eg at harvest.
The magic begins, however, when these dormant foods go into sprouting mode, and become activated or 'alive'. The levels of ANFs in these foods drop to optimal amounts as they are leached into the surrounding soil/water and due to various food preparation and cooking methods and the amounts left in the food are now at the 'goldilocks level' - not too much and not too little, just the right amount to protect us from disease and degeneration. These ANFs can now function in our bodies as anti-aging phytonutrients.
Just as 'weeds' such as dandelion and nettle are plants that are not widely enough known for their benefits, ANFs are phytonutrients which we just need to learn how to coax a bountiful array of benefits out of.
The yin and yang of ANFs:
See research here and here on how ANFs can both benefit us and wreck havoc with our health
See research here, here and here on their benefits for us (eg anti-viral, anti-cancer and anti-oxidant actions)
See this paper: "Plant lectins are potent inhibitors of coronaviruses by interfering with two targets in the viral replication cycle"Antiviral Research, 2007
For employing the yin and yang of ANFs to improve nutrition in food insecure communities and to improve nutrition for those following a largely plant based diet, see research here, here and here - and - for an easy and informative read, see this online article referred to above.
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