Don't Forget the Sprouts
The National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Health both recommend eating five fresh fruits and vegetables every day. A great way to help reach that goal is to include sprouts.
Sprouts are the only form of agriculture that can be locally grown and available in all four seasons. These “baby vegetables” are grown from seed to salad in only one week. Sprouts are an excellent way to feed your family for very little money. Fifty cents worth of alfalfa seeds yields one and one half pounds of alfafa sprouts.
Even more remarkable is the nutrition available from these tiny, baby vegetables. Alfalfa sprouts have more chlorophyll than spinach, kale, cabbage or parsley. Alfafa, sunflower, clover and radish sprouts all contain 4% protein. Compare that to the protein available in spinach – 3%, in romaine lettuce – 1.5%, in Iceberg lettuce – 0.8%, and in milk – 3.3%. These foods all have about 90% water content. Meat and eggs are the common protein foods for Americans. Meat is 19% protein and eggs are 13% protein (and 11% fat). But soybean sprouts have 28% protein, and lentil and pea sprouts have 26%. Soybean sprouts have twice the protein of eggs and only 1/10 the fat.
Grain and nut sprouts, such as wheat and sunflower, are rich in fats. While fats in flour and wheat germ have a reputation for going rancid quickly (stores should refrigerate them), fats in sprouts last for weeks. The valuable wheat germ oil in wheat sprouts is broken down into its essential fatty acid fractions over 50% of which is the valuable Omega 6. While sunflower oil is our finest source of Omega 6, germination of the sunflower sprout transforms the fatty acids into an easily digestible, water soluble form saving our body the trouble of breaking it down and simultaneously protecting us against the perils of rancidity. This is a great bonus for a sprout that is already popular for its crispness and nutty flavor.
Radish sprouts have 29 times more vitamin C than milk (29 mg vs. 1 mg) and four times the vitamin A (391 IU vs. 126). These spicy sprouts have 10 times more calcium than a potato (51 mg vs. 5 mg) and contain more vitamin C than pineapple. If you examine what is happening during germination, it looks like a vitamin factory. While mature radishes contain 10 IU/100g of provitamin, the radish sprouts contain 391 IU – 39 times more! No wonder sprout lovers say you can feel the vitamins!
Phytochemical Factory
Alfafa, radish, broccoli, clover and soybean contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals (plant compounds) that can protect us against disease. Canavanine, an amino acid analog present in alfalfa, demonstrates resistence to pancreatic, colon and leukemia cancers. Plant estrogens in alfafa sprouts function similarly to human estrogen but without the side effects. They increase bone formation and density and prevent bone breakdown (osteoporosis). They are helpful in controlling hot flashes, menopause, PMS and fibrocystic breast tumors.
John Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers found substantial amounts of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates in broccoli sprouts which are very potent inducers of phase 2 enzymes that protect cells from going malignant. The broccoli sprouts contain 10 to 100 times the levels of these enzymes available from the corresponding mature plants.
Alfafa sprouts are one of our finest food sources of saponins. Saponins lower the bad cholesterol and fat but not the good HDL fats. Animal studies prove their benefit in arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Saponins also stimulate the immune system by increasing the activity of natural killer cells such as T-lymphocytes and interferon. The saponin content of alfalfa sprouts multiplies 450% over that of the unsprouted seed. Sprouts also contain an abundance of highly active antioxidants that prevent DNA destruction and protect us from the ongoing effects of aging. It wouldn’t be inconceivable to find a fountain of youth here, after all, sprouts represent the miracle of birth.
Are Alfalfa Sprouts Safe?
Recently, stories about alfalfa sprouts contaminated with salmonella bacteria have made the news. Salmonella is bad news, but no food is immune to it. All foods eaten raw carry that risk including fresh fruit and vegetables, which have more pathogen outbreaks than sprouts. Does this mean you should go on a 100% cooked food diet?
According to the Center for Disease Control, 4 million people contract salmonellosis from foods every year and 93% of these cases are caused by meat, poultry, milk and eggs. The remaining 7% of cases are from shellfish, fresh fruits and vegetables. While fruits and vegetables are safer than meat, a single outbreak from Mexican cantaloupes in 1989 caused 25,000 cases of salmonella. Compare this to sprouts: for all outbreaks over their entire 40 year history, the U.S. sprout industry has had a total of 2,000 cases.
What are sprout companies doing about it? The FDA has recommended the chlorination of sprouts which would achieve a 99.8% reduction of salmonella and e. coli contamination. However, many sprout growers do not want to chlorinate and prefer instead alternative pasteurization methods. These alternative methods include heat treatment of raw seeds before sprouting or soaking seeds in acetic acid (vinegar). Question your supplier of sprouting seeds: have their seeds been treated to reduce contamination?
No Green Thumb Necessary
You don’t have to be a vegetarian or a rocket scientist or a sproutman to grow sprouts. Sprouts really grow themselves. Our only job is to keep them warm and moist. There is no soil. No aching knees or stiff backs. No worries about growing seasons. Sprouts mature in 5-10 days and grow in normal room light. A small vertical sprouter can grow 1 - 2 lbs of salad greens every week.
You can dine like royalty with all the recipes you can prepare from sprouts grown in your own kitchen. And you’ll live like royalty, too. These plants add beauty to your house with their bright greens, limes and wine reds and make you feel like it’s summer even in the dead of winter. Plants are natural air fresheners and oxygen generators. Your entire house will vibrate with the magnetism of these life-giving plants. Welcome the sprouts and they will bring sunshine into your home and vitality into your diet.