What’s a Sprout?

Eating sprouts can help promote good health. Sprouts are the germinated form of seeds and beans and are easy to produce. They require no soil, only water and the right temperature. They emerge in 2 to 7 days, depending on the type of seed or bean. In addition to raw alfalfa sprouts, other varieties include clover, sunflower, broccoli, mustard, radish, garlic, dill and pumpkin, as well as various beans, such as mung, kidney, pinto, navy and soy and wheat berries.

While versatile, sprouts also are favored for their nutritional value. Like other fresh produce, sprouts are low in calories and fat and provide substantial amounts of key nutrients, such as vitamin C, foliate and fiber.

During sprouting, minerals bind to protein in the seed, grain, nut, or bean, making them more useable in the body. This is true of alkaline minerals like calcium, magnesium, and others that help us to balance our body chemistry for weight loss and better health.

The main reason for eating sprouts is about nutrition, bio-availability, and digestion. It’s essentially about getting the most benefit out of a plant in the most biologically concentrated and available form.

It has been researched that the little broccoli sprouts contain 10 to 100 times the glucoraphanin compared with the mature broccoli vegetable plant. Glucoraphanin is the main enzyme inducer, specifically in broccoli sprouts, which works as a de-toxifier and anti-inflammatory.

An even more important reason for eating sprouts is the truly amazing health benefits they provide. Besides vitamins C, A, and K, sprouts contain fiber, manganese, iboflavin, copper, protein, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. The amounts these vitamins and minerals impart generate benefits for nearly every area of the body. When you eat sprouted foods, you increase highly concentrated proteolytic enzymes that make carbohydrates and proteins digestible.