Plants and animals share similar biochemical pathways and signaling systems, which may explain why so many phytonutrients are beneficial to our physiology.
Appropriating Plant Defenses
4.6/5 - (15 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Plants live the ultimate sedentary lifestyle. “Most of us [usually] think of plants more as objects than as organisms. But because…plants [can’t move],” they’ve had to evolve a whole other way to escape threats to their well-being. Plants can sense and respond dynamically to all sorts of stimuli: chemical concentrations in the air, soil, water, touch, motion, vibration, pathogens, predators, and, of course, light. And how do they respond? They respond biochemically. They manufacture, from scratch, a dizzying array of compounds to deal with specific threats.
If we get too hot, we can move into the shade. But if plants get too hot, they’re stuck—they are the shade! “As a result, the complexity of the plant stress response humbles that of animals. Plants and their stress response have been evolving for almost [a] billion years.” And, in that time, they’ve created a whole chemistry lab of protective substances—some of which can induce similarly protective responses in those that eat them.
Why is it that “the best grapes in terms of…health benefit often result from relatively dry, sun-exposed, infertile soil”? “Similarly, drought-stressed strawberries have [more] antioxidant[s]” and phytonutrients. “Indeed, commonly-consumed foods, like lettuce and fruits, can be nutritionally enhanced by cold stress, light stress, water deficit, or nutrient deficit stress.” Why is it that stressed plants are often the healthiest?
We used to think it was just a matter of using the same tools to deal with the same problems. “[S]tudies suggest that plants and animals largely share the molecular pathways in order to respond to stress, so [it’s] conceivable that a molecule produced in plants [might] also be effective…[in people].” Plants have DNA; humans have DNA. The UV rays in sunlight can damage the DNA in plants in the same way it can damage our DNA—by creating free radicals. Plants figured out how to cook up all these complex antioxidants, and instead of just reinventing the wheel, animals can just expropriate those antioxidants from plants, and commandeer them for the same purpose.
We get attacked by bacteria; plants get attacked by bacteria. So, for example, when this fungus doesn’t like getting muscled in on by bacteria, it creates a molecule called penicillin—provided free to us. What a nice guy, what a fungi!
When plants get infected, they produce aspirin—which can come in handy when we get infected. Plants heal wounds; we heal wounds, using similar fatty-acid signaling systems. “It is increasingly evident that plants and animals differ less than we thought in [terms of] how [we all] respond,” sharing elements “of fatty acid, protein, steroidal, neurotransmitter, [free radical], nitric oxide, and even plant growth hormone signalling systems.”
So, in a sense, we’re just opening up nature’s drug store when we pull out the crisper in our fridge.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- JC Schultz. Shared signals and the potential for phylogenetic espionage between plants and animals. Integr Comp. Biol. 2002 42(3):454 – 462.
- S Kotak, J Larkindale, U Lee, P von Koskull-Döring, E Vierling, KD. Scharf. Complexity of the heat stress response in plants. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2007 10(3):310 – 316.
- S Salvioli, E Sikora, EL Cooper, C Franceschi. Curcumin in cell death processes: A challenge for CAM of age-related pathologies. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2007 4(2):181 – 190.
- PL Hooper, M Tytell, L Vígh. Xenohormesis: Health benefits from an eon of plant stress response evolution. Cell Stress Chaperones. 2010 15(6):761 – 770.
- K Ohnishi, S Ohkura, E Nakahata, A Ishisaka, Y Kawai, J Terao, T Mori, T Ishii, T Nakayama, N Kioka, S Matsumoto, Y Ikeda, M Akiyama, K Irie, A Murakami. Non-specific protein modifications by a phytochemical induce heat shock response for self-defense. PLoS ONE. 2013 8(3):e58641.
- T Kushiro, E Nambara, P McCourt. The key to signalling. Nature. 2003 422(6928):122.
Images thanks to Noodles and Beef via flickr, purzen via OpenClipArt, and Bios and Miansari66 via Wikimedia
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Plants live the ultimate sedentary lifestyle. “Most of us [usually] think of plants more as objects than as organisms. But because…plants [can’t move],” they’ve had to evolve a whole other way to escape threats to their well-being. Plants can sense and respond dynamically to all sorts of stimuli: chemical concentrations in the air, soil, water, touch, motion, vibration, pathogens, predators, and, of course, light. And how do they respond? They respond biochemically. They manufacture, from scratch, a dizzying array of compounds to deal with specific threats.
If we get too hot, we can move into the shade. But if plants get too hot, they’re stuck—they are the shade! “As a result, the complexity of the plant stress response humbles that of animals. Plants and their stress response have been evolving for almost [a] billion years.” And, in that time, they’ve created a whole chemistry lab of protective substances—some of which can induce similarly protective responses in those that eat them.
Why is it that “the best grapes in terms of…health benefit often result from relatively dry, sun-exposed, infertile soil”? “Similarly, drought-stressed strawberries have [more] antioxidant[s]” and phytonutrients. “Indeed, commonly-consumed foods, like lettuce and fruits, can be nutritionally enhanced by cold stress, light stress, water deficit, or nutrient deficit stress.” Why is it that stressed plants are often the healthiest?
We used to think it was just a matter of using the same tools to deal with the same problems. “[S]tudies suggest that plants and animals largely share the molecular pathways in order to respond to stress, so [it’s] conceivable that a molecule produced in plants [might] also be effective…[in people].” Plants have DNA; humans have DNA. The UV rays in sunlight can damage the DNA in plants in the same way it can damage our DNA—by creating free radicals. Plants figured out how to cook up all these complex antioxidants, and instead of just reinventing the wheel, animals can just expropriate those antioxidants from plants, and commandeer them for the same purpose.
We get attacked by bacteria; plants get attacked by bacteria. So, for example, when this fungus doesn’t like getting muscled in on by bacteria, it creates a molecule called penicillin—provided free to us. What a nice guy, what a fungi!
When plants get infected, they produce aspirin—which can come in handy when we get infected. Plants heal wounds; we heal wounds, using similar fatty-acid signaling systems. “It is increasingly evident that plants and animals differ less than we thought in [terms of] how [we all] respond,” sharing elements “of fatty acid, protein, steroidal, neurotransmitter, [free radical], nitric oxide, and even plant growth hormone signalling systems.”
So, in a sense, we’re just opening up nature’s drug store when we pull out the crisper in our fridge.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- JC Schultz. Shared signals and the potential for phylogenetic espionage between plants and animals. Integr Comp. Biol. 2002 42(3):454 – 462.
- S Kotak, J Larkindale, U Lee, P von Koskull-Döring, E Vierling, KD. Scharf. Complexity of the heat stress response in plants. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2007 10(3):310 – 316.
- S Salvioli, E Sikora, EL Cooper, C Franceschi. Curcumin in cell death processes: A challenge for CAM of age-related pathologies. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2007 4(2):181 – 190.
- PL Hooper, M Tytell, L Vígh. Xenohormesis: Health benefits from an eon of plant stress response evolution. Cell Stress Chaperones. 2010 15(6):761 – 770.
- K Ohnishi, S Ohkura, E Nakahata, A Ishisaka, Y Kawai, J Terao, T Mori, T Ishii, T Nakayama, N Kioka, S Matsumoto, Y Ikeda, M Akiyama, K Irie, A Murakami. Non-specific protein modifications by a phytochemical induce heat shock response for self-defense. PLoS ONE. 2013 8(3):e58641.
- T Kushiro, E Nambara, P McCourt. The key to signalling. Nature. 2003 422(6928):122.
Images thanks to Noodles and Beef via flickr, purzen via OpenClipArt, and Bios and Miansari66 via Wikimedia
Republishing "Appropriating Plant Defenses"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
Appropriating Plant Defenses
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
The aspirin story is fascinating.
This whole co-evolution concept reminds me of Human Neurotransmitters In Plants and The Broccoli Receptor: Our First Line of Defense.
More on the power of plants in Power Plants.
Some of the wilder things that Phytochemicals: The Nutrition Facts Missing from the Label can do are explored in:
- Prevent Glaucoma & See 27 Miles Further
- Keeping your Hands Warm With Citrus
- How to Slow Brain Aging By Two Years
We evolved eating a lot of plants: Paleolithic Lessons.
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to our free newsletter. With your subscription, you'll also get notifications for just-released blogs and videos. Check out our information page about our translated resources.
Previous Video
Next Video
