Plants are not passive things. Oh, they’re not running and fighting and directly acting on the local environment with any sort of mammalian consciousness or intent, but they do employ defenses against hungry animals, insects, intrusive plant life, and disease – just like we do. We differ greatly in a few major areas, of course. Plants make themselves (or their seeds) unpalatable, indigestible, and downright poisonous through the lectins, gluten, and other antinutrients we enjoy railing against; to defend themselves and their offspring (fuzzy “seeds”), animals bare teeth and claws, run incredibly fast, climb trees, burrow into the ground, or wield semiautomatic rifles. But plants’ and animals’ respective modes of management of “internal” threats, like disease or infection, are more similar than not: we all manufacture antioxidants. With animals, the immune system, which defends from pernicious invading forces and helps determine the inflammatory response to harmful stimuli, is well known […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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Filed under: Fitness