The
Value of Sprouts
by Sol Azulay and others
Sprouts: Year-Round Vitamins
Sprouts are one of the most complete and nutritional of all
foods tested. Sprouts are real 'Life Vitamins, Minerals, Proteins, and Enzymes. Their
nutritional value was discovered by the Chinese thousands of years ago. Recently, in the
USA, numerous scientific studies suggest the importance of sprouts in a healthy diet.
As an example, a sprouted Mung Bean has a carbohydrate
content of a melon, vitamin A of a lemon, thiamin of an avocado, riboflavin of a dry
apple, niacin of a banana, and ascorbic acid of a loganberry.
Because sprouts are predigested food, they have a higher
biological efficiency value then whole seeds, raw or cooked. Less food is required, yet
more nutrients reach the blood and cells. The sprouting process under the action of light,
creates chlorophyll. Chlorophyll has been shown to be effective in overcoming protein
deficiency anemia.
Sprouts also have a regenerating effect on the human body
because of their high concentration of RNA, DNA, protein and essential nutrients which can
be found only in living cells. (Synthetic supplements are not life food.)
The chemical changes that occur in the sprouting seed
activate a powerful enzyme factory, never to be surpassed in later stage growth of any
regumes (see article by Dr. Peavy). The rich enzyma concentration can lead heightened
enzyme activity in your metabolism, leading to regeneration of the bloodstream. Sprouted
grain appears to prevent depletion and earlier disappearance of youth due to sexual
practice (vitamin E). Some vitamins increase during sprouting by 500%! In wheat, vitamin
B-12 quadruples, other B vitamins increases 3 to 12 times, vitamin E content triples.
Fibber content increases three to four times that of whole wheat bread.
To begin with, sprouts are the most reliable year-round
source of vitamin C, carotenoid A, and many B vitamins (such as folacin), all of which are
usually in short supply in our diet. Sprouting seeds, grains, and legumes greatly
increases their content of those vitamins. For example, the vitamin A content (per
calorie) of sprouted Mung beans is two-and-a-half times higher than the dry bean, and some
beans have more than eight times more vitamin A after being sprouted.
Dry seeds, grains, and legumes, while rich in protein and
complex carbohydrates, contain no vitamin C. But after sprouting, they contain around 20
milligrams per 3.5 ounces, a tremendous increase. Also, if grown in decent soil or taken
from your own garden, seeds, grains, and legumes will be high in organic minerals - so
your sprouts will be an excellent source of minerals as well as vitamins.
The great advantage in getting vitamins from sprouts you grow
yourself is that you get a consistently high vitamin content without losses. In the dead
of winter, when you can’t grow anything or get fresh produce anywhere, sprouts will
provide a consistently reliable source of fresh, high-nutrient vegetables rich in vitamin
C, vitamin A, and B vitamins. This will keep your immune system strong and your health in
top condition when almost everyone else is getting sick. Why do you think so many people
come down with colds and flu in the winter more than any other time? Because they’re
not getting the vegetables and fruits that would keep their immune systems strong.
Have you ever heard of a vegetable that continues to gain
vitamins after you harvest it? Sprouts do! Sprouts are living foods. Even after you
harvest your sprouts and refrigerate them, they will continue to grow slowly, and their
vitamin content will actually increase. Contrast that with store-bought fruits and
vegetables, which start losing their vitamins as soon as they’re picked and often
have to be shipped a thousand miles or more in the winter.
Make Your Own Sprouts Year-Round
While fresh fruits and vegetables provide enzymes, sprouts
are far more concentrated and should be eaten in the summer with every large meal even
when you have your own vegetables and fruits. In the winter and spring, when your own
vegetable and fruits are not available, sprouts are doubly important. Sprouts should
become an integral part of your diet year-round.
But you need to make your own sprouts for highest food value.
Sprouts are living food. They need to be fresh. Freshly picked from your own sprout
garden, they contain the highest level of enzymes and vitamins. If they are immediately
refrigerated, the "life force" will stay in the seed as they remain fresh and
slowly continue to grow.
If they are not immediately refrigerated after harvest, they
will stop growing and the enzymes and vitamins will start decomposing. As that happens,
the enzyme and vitamin content will decline rapidly. When you buy sprouts at the
supermarket, there’s no telling how long they’ve been out on the shelves and
exposed to room temperature. Even several hours of sitting in room temperature will cause
a rapid loss of enzymes and vitamins. But what’s even worse is that some sprouts are
treated with mold inhibitors to keep them fresh looking as they sit at room temperature.
Those long, white, Mung bean sprouts seen in the store or at the salad bar have probably
been treated with inhibitors so they could be grown to that length and preserved at room
temperature. To really get the rejuvenating value of sprouts, you need to grow your own
and eat them fresh".
(By Dr. William S. Peavy and Warren Peary , from the book
‘Super Nutrition Gardening’ available from Avery Publishing Co. 1 800 548 5757)
Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Fountain of Youth
"The Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon searched off the
Florida coast for a marvelous fountain he had heard could restore youth. He never found
this legendary fountain, but you can. It is the eating of sprouted seeds that have not
been heated over 118 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which enzyme destruction
begins. Sprouts are freshly germinated edible seeds such as beans and grains. In fact, all
you need is a Kitchen counter and five minutes a day. Even if you’re in an apartment
in the middle of a city, you can sprout!
The rejuvenating and life-giving properties of sprouts may be
one of the great health secrets of our time. Sprouts provide two important things in our
diet - a steady year-round source of vitamins and a high concentration of food enzymes.
Both keep the body’s enzyme activity high. Enzymes, which are made out of vitamins
and minerals, are the most vital factor that sustains our body’s life processes.
Without enzymes, we would be dead. And it is that very thing, enzyme depletion that is a
fundamental cause of aging. It is the loss of the body’s enzymes which decreases the
life processes in the cells. As the cell’s life processes decrease, they are not able
to replace themselves as quickly. At the same time, as enzyme activity decreases, the
cells become more susceptible to damage by free radicals and other toxic substances, which
further hinders cell reproduction. It is the body’s inability to replace old cells
with healthy new ones at a fast enough rate and the concurrent loss in the body’s
enzymes that is precisely responsible for aging and increased susceptibility to disease as
we get older. This is why immunity tends to decrease with age - immune cells aren’t
being replaced at a fast enough rate to protect the body adequately from disease. Staying
biologically young and healthy is a matter of keeping enzyme activity in our bodies at a
maximum. That is exactly what sprouts do, which is why they can be called the fountain of
youth.
(By Dr. William S. Peavy and Warren Peary , from the book
‘Super Nutrition Gardening’ available from Avery Publishing Co. 1 800 548 5757)
Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Sprouts Save Our Enzymes
Sprouts preserve our body’s enzymes, which is extremely
important. How do they do this? First of all, sprouted beans, grains, nuts, and seeds are
extremely easy to digest. Sprouting essentially pre-digests the food for us by breaking
down the concentrated starch into simpler carbohydrates and the protein into free amino
acids, so our own enzymes don’t have to work so hard. If you’ve ever had trouble
digesting beans properly, just sprout them and you’ll have no trouble at all.
Sprouting also removes anti-nutrients such as enzyme inhibitors, and that makes sprouts
even easier to digest, further sparing enzymes. Another anti-nutrient is phytates, which
is what stops some people from enjoying grains such as wheat. Many people who can’t
eat unsprouted wheat find they can eat all the sprouted wheat they want with no problem.
The Magic of Food Enzymes
Perhaps the greatest thing sprouts provide is enzymes. The
enzymes in sprouts are a special protein that helps our body digest the nutrients in our
food and boosts the life-giving enzyme activity in our body. Food enzymes are only found
in raw foods. Cooking destroys them. While all raw foods contain enzymes, the most
powerful enzyme-rich food are sprouted seeds, grains, and legumes. Sprouting increases the
enzyme content in these foods enormously, to as much as forty-three times more than
non-sprouted foods.
Sprouting greatly increases the content of all enzymes,
including proteolytic and amylolytic enzymes. These enzymes digest proteins and
carbohydrates (starches). They are normally produced inside the body but are also found in
great concentration in raw sprouted foods. Researchers such as Dr. Edward Howell have
shown how food enzymes aid us in the digestion of all the proteins, starches, and fats
eaten in the same meal through their action in both saliva and the upper part of the
stomach. These food enzymes can take the place of some of our body’s own enzymes, and
this is very significant.
The digestion of food takes a high priority and forces the
body to produce a copious flow of concentrated digestive enzymes when there are no enzymes
in our food. All of us loose our ability to produce concentrated digestive enzymes as we
grow older. As this happens, we are less able to use the vitamins, minerals, and other
nutrients in our food, and we lose the ability to produce adequate amounts of all the
other enzymes we need.
Dr. David G. Williams explains some of the consequences of
inadequate enzyme production:
"As we age, our digestive system becomes less efficient.
This should be obvious when you consider that anywhere from 60 to 75 percent of all
hospitalizations are related to problems concerning the digestive system...ulcer and
indigestion medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, are among the top sellers
of any class of drugs; as we age, our stomach’s ability to produce hydrochloric acid
lessens (New England Journal of Medicine 85; 313: 70 - 74); and by age 65, almost 35
percent of us don’t produce any hydrochloric acid at all."
Researchers such as Dr. Edward Howell have shown that much of
this breakdown in the body’s ability to produce enough enzymes is due to the
overproduction of concentrated digestive enzymes over many years. It should be obvious
from all this that our bodies were made to eat far more raw food than we currently eat.
The body has only a limited capacity to make enzymes, and this overproduction of digestive
enzymes over many years is directly responsible for the body’s loss of all the other
enzymes.
By squandering our enzyme-making capacity on digestive
enzymes, the production and activity of all the other enzymes needed in our body is
reduced. This is one reason why enzymes are depleted from our cells as we age. As enzyme
activity is diminished in the cells, there is an acceleration of the aging process caused
by free radical damage and other things that make us increasingly susceptible to disease.
When we get enzymes from our food, it spares our body from
having to make such concentrated digestive enzymes. This sparing effect increases the
activity of all the other enzymes in our body. Eating enzyme-rich foods such as sprouts
allows our body to maximize its production of non-digestive enzymes, and that helps us
produce an adequate level of enzymes all our life. And the higher the level of enzyme
activity, the healthier and biologically younger we are going to be.
Since aging is, to a large extent, caused by enzyme
depletion, slowing the aging process might be a matter of eating lots of enzyme-rich food
every day along with an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. Sprouted seeds, grains,
and legumes are the most powerful enzyme-rich foods that exist. |
