High & Low Lectin Seeds

You may be wondering if seeds are high or low in lectins, and if so, which ones?

It can be very frustrating looking for lectin info and while there are a lot of unknowns on lectins, thankfully there is some info on seeds which I’ll share with you now!

You might think, is it okay to have a little bit of seeds? Are they a low lectin food?

While seeds are generally considered healthy foods, sometimes even considered superfoods, what does lectin research say about them?

High Lectin Seeds

After looking at many different results of lectins in foods, one thing stood out which is that often it seems that seeds are more likely to contain lectins than other parts of the food.

For example, in the instance of gooseberries, grapes, and jackfruit, all of them showed lectin activity in the seeds, whereas sometimes the fruit itself of the fruit does not.

This does make some sense, considering that seeds often contain anti-nutritive properties that go away or are substantially reduced upon sprouting, resist digestion, and pass through the digestive system whole.

This makes sense from an ecosystem perspective, because when an animal eats a fruit for example, and then poops it on the ground, the seed comes back out whole, and has the ability to grow into more fruit, in the way of a fruit tree, bush, etc.!

Low Lectin Seeds

That being said, there are seeds that are commonly eaten that have shown not to have lectin activity in research.

For example, pumpkin seeds, which are often eaten raw, sprouted, or oven baked, especially with a bit of salt after Halloween, showed no lectin activity in research.

Another seed that is often eaten raw is hemp seeds, which also had no lectins shown in research. This food is also a common choice for vegan protein powder.

Yet another seed that showed no lectins, although this one seems quite uncommon in foods, is linseed.

Chia seeds, which are sometimes added to drinks and turn into almost like a gel around the seed, giving interesting texture to the drink, are another that showed no lectins.

And finally, both poppy seeds, the somewhat common addition to bagels and infamous role in a Seinfeld episode, and sesame seeds, which often are added to sesame chicken or to the outside of sushi rolls, both showed no lectins in research.

Should You Eat Seeds On A Lectin-Free Diet?

If you are eating low in lectins or lectin-free, seeds can be a very reasonable addition to your diet. They often contain healthy fats and can also contain other things like fiber and micronutrients such as Magnesium.

If you’d like to reduce the anti-nutritive components of seeds, as described earlier in the High Lectin Foods section, then considering buying them sprouted or sprouting them yourself.

Sprouted pumpkin seeds have become quite popular, and you can even buy sprouted pumpkin seed butter!

Seeds in fruits are quite common, and you may wish to avoid the fruits that have shown to have lectins, but thankfully there are quite a few fruits that have shown no lectins in research!

Ultimately, it may be worth considering how small of an amount of seeds are in the fruit compared to the rest of it, or remove the seeds if possible, such as in the instance of cucumbers.

Hopefully that helps!