What Are the Benefits of Sprouting?

Sprouting food increases its nutritional value.

Sprouting foods like vegetables, nuts and beans increases their already high nutritional power. Adding a variety of sprouts to your daily meal is a great way to dramatically increase your vitamin and live-enzyme intake.

Process

Sprouting is the process of alternately soaking and rinsing seeds until they germinate. Eating the vegetable at this stage rather than the fully developed stage yields a greater nutritional content.

Nutrition

According to World's Healthiest Food, "Sprouting is a moment of great vitality and energy." They are a great source of digestive enzymes; in fact, they can have up to 100 times more enzymes than their fully developed versions.

Health

Depending on what type of sprout you eat, the health benefits vary. For example, while eating broccoli gives you a healthy does of vitamins C, K, and A, as well as cancer-fighting phytonutrients, broccoli sprouts can have multiple times the amount per serving.

Types

Many foods can be sprouted, including beans like chickpeas, lentils and the mung bean; rice; herbs; vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, celery and leeks; and grains like quinoa and rye.

Expert Insight

According to GrowAlfalfa.com, "The vitamin content of some seeds can increase by up to 20 times their original value within several days of sprouting."

References

• World's Healthiest Foods
• GrowAlfalfa.com

Resources

• Living-Foods