HWN Suggests

Is "Eat Your Sprouts" the New "Eat Your Vegetables"?

We all grew up being constantly reminded to eat our broccoli, but most of us—as many as 9 out of 10 of us, according to the CDC—aren't actually eating enough vegetables. Worldwide, malnutrition is a major problem for billions of people. What if there was a highly concentrated source of plant nutrition we could all take daily? One swallow, and we'd get more than enough vitamins, minerals, fiber, and even high-quality protein. I'm not talking about a multivitamin or pill. I'm talking about sprouts and microgreens. You know, the little green vegetable confetti that fancy restaurants add to your soup and entrée?

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 Are Sprouted Grains Actually Healthier?

If people are going to all of this trouble to have sprouted grains, they must be better for you, right? The answer is maybe. The thing is that while there is indeed research showing that sprouting can increase the digestibility of the starch and protein in some grains, it’s kind of an unpredictable process.

 Sprouts: The Ultimate, Home-Grown, Nutrient-Packed Food

When it comes to growing your own food, it’s hard to find anything easier, quicker, or more nutritious than sprouts. If you’re thinking about how to optimize your immune system, balance your blood sugar levels, improve your digestion, support your heart and liver health and function, or enhance your family’s food security, then sprouts could be just the thing you’re looking for.

Articles of Interest

Brussels Sprouts: From Dreaded to Delectable

Today, Brussels sprouts are among the trendiest vegetables. You can find them on the menu in eating establishments ranging from pubs to posh restaurants. But this was not always so.

From Health Food To Health Risk: Sprouts Slip Off The Menu

Sprouts of any kind — alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean, to name a few — now rate their own warning page on foodsafety.gov, which notes at least 30 outbreaks of illness associated with raw sprouts since 1996. The sprout seeds are usually to blame for harboring bacteria, and as they grow, the warmth and moisture helps the bacteria multiply quickly. Many sprout growers treat sprouts with chlorine and other antimicrobials to kill them, but that hasn't stopped the problems. The European officials hope to figure out if there's anything they can do to prevent sprouts-related outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Health: Eat Your Sprouts

George H. W. Bush’s aversion to broccoli notwithstanding, scientists have known for years that eating the bushy green vegetable can lower your risk for certain cancers. Now a new study shows that broccoli–and even more so, broccoli sprouts–may also cut your risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Sprouts are particularly rich in glucoraphanin, one of a class of substances that work indirectly as antioxidants by boosting the body’s antioxidant defense systems.

Is Sprouted Food Actually Healthier?

All kinds of items at the health food store seem to have suddenly “sprouted”, including whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and chickpeas. But are they really more nutritious than non-sprouted plant foods?

Should Sprouts Come With A Warning Label?

Sprout seeds need warmth and humidity to grow — which also happen to be ideal conditions for pathogens to flourish. Because of the number of outbreaks associated with sprouts, the FDA developed special requirements for sprout growers within the Food Modernization and Safety Act that are just going into effect. A few years ago, the agency also helped launch the Sprout Safety Alliance, with the Institute for Food Safety and Health at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Sprouts – Super Foods With Dense Nutrients - Fast And Easy To Grow

The practice of sprouting food all started when people began to recognize that certain grains and legumes gave them negative digestive symptoms like gas, bloating and indigestion. However, when these foods are soaked and sprouted they are much easier to digest.

Super Sprouts – What are They?

The concept of sprouting seeds from grains and vegetables has been recorded to some degree throughout human history, with references in the Book of Daniel as well as evidence of use among ancient Chinese physicians who were believed to have used them to heal and cure illnesses. Sprouts like alfalfa, broccoli and wheatgrass, have been utilized as a dietary food source among health-conscious communities around the world since the 1960’s. It wasn’t until the 80’s and 90’s, however, that consuming raw sprouts as a salad vegetable became popular amid a more mainstream audience.

The Poster Plant of Health Food Can Pack Disease Risks

After a series of outbreaks of sprout-related illnesses in this country and abroad in the 1990s, the F.D.A. began encouraging sprout growers, known as sprouters, to take steps to sanitize their seeds and test their products for pathogens before sale. The agency also warned the public that uncooked sprouts were a risky food, saying that children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with weak immune systems should not eat raw sprouts. The bacteria that can contaminate sprouts can be destroyed by cooking.

The Raw Truth about Sprouts and Microgreens

Grown in dark conditions without soil and fertilizers, the seeds are fed solely by water, air, and the nutrients from the seeds’ embryos. “It’s like raising baby chicks,” explains Corie. “At first, the food comes from the yolk.” If sprouts are the infants of the produce world, microgreens are the youngsters. Whereas sprouts can reach their prime in just a few days, microgreens are grown for up to five weeks. And microgreens are cut off at the stem when purchased, instead of being sold roots and all, as sprouts are.

Tiny sprouts provide big nutrition

Move over baby carrots and petite peas. Even tinier vegetables are catching on as go-to healthy foods. Microscale vegetables, a growing food category that includes sprouted seeds, are miniature in size yet big in nutrition. Eating sprouts well before they become full-blown plants can crank up certain nutrient levels considerably, said Emily Ho, nutrition professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

What Are Broccoli Sprouts? So Many Benefits Are Packed In These Greens

When a well-known, nutrition-focused neurologist gives advice, odds are people are going to listen. So when David Perlmutter, M.D., author of Brain Wash and Grain Brain, shared his love of broccoli sprouts on Instagram, it was no wonder that people started adding this superfood to their diet. But what the heck are broccoli sprouts? Apparently, they're little nutrient-packed sprigs that carry the health-promoting properties of broccoli in a more concentrated form, according to Dr. Perlmutter's video post.

Why sprout tops are good for you

No wait... sprout haters come back! Give the brussels' leafy hat a chance and it will repay you in vitamins...

Why Sprouts Might Be the Most Powerful Food on the Planet

For years, we've been sold the idea that eating healthy is complicated, expensive, or out of reach. But what if I told you the most powerful superfood on the planet is something you can grow in your kitchen without soil, sunlight, or even much effort?