botanically, they are legumes. All legumes
contain protein structures that may be
hazardous to humans—one type in particular
is called a lectin. In their raw state, lectins are
highly resistant to digestion and toxic to
animals.
In other legumes (like black beans or
kidney beans), these lectins are destroyed
during the cooking process, rendering them
harmless. But peanut lectins are different.
They are resistant to digestion and are not
destroyed by heat. When they land in your
gut, they are largely intact. They can then fool
your gut lining into letting them through into
the body (by mimicking the structure of other
proteins) and get into your bloodstream.
Once they’re inside, these peanut lectins
can induce an immune response. (Remember,
that undigested foreign protein is totally out
of place inside the body.) By now, you know
that any abnormal activation of your immune
system might negatively affect both your