On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, S C wrote:

> Do root veggies and winter squash contain starch?  I'm not sure about this.
> Starch means polysaccharide--amylose or amylopectin.  I think that many
> (most? all?) root veggies and winter squash contain dissaccharides but not
> polysaccharides.

Yes, they do contain polysaccharides.  They have less than
tubers, of course, since their overall carb content is lower.
Parsnips, for example, have about 13g of utilizable carbohydrate
(per 100g), of which 5g are sugars and the rest are
polysaccharides.  See
http://ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/faqs/dietcancer/web5/five.html,
for example, where the general starch content of roots and tubers
is given as a range of 12%-50%.  Note that seeds and bananas,
which are also paleo foods, contain starch.  This is not
surprising, since starch is the storage form of carbohydrate.

> > If I had to guess, I'd bet that the bowel problems are caused by damage to
> the bowel caused by grain lectins, compromising the ability to deal with what
> would have been a normal starch load.
>
> That may be a component, but it can't be the whole story because researchers
> really did recently identify a gene associated with IBD.  It's long been
> observed that IBD runs in families and in certain gene pools.  For example,
> it's more common in people of Eastern European Jewish descent (like myself).
> Also, it's without question an autoimmune problem--there is T-cell
> involvement--and this isn't explained by lectins (at least not as I
> understand the lectin issue).

The autoimmune aspect could indeed be explained by lectins, if
the lectins resemble gut tissue closely enough to confuse the
immune system.  This molecular mimicry theory explains why some
auto-immune problems get started.  Once started, of course, they
have a life of their own.

Todd Moody
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