Sprouting food is all the rage these days. Its fun to grow food right in your own home and it’s great for kids to partake in the process. Sprouting also has great health benefits that have been known for centuries in different parts of the world – particularly Asia. It’s easy to do at home and if you are on the run, sprouts are readily available in most grocery stores.

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.

The reason grains and legumes produce gas and indigestion is because many people do not have the digestive enzymes needed to fully digest them. As a result, they ferment, cause negative digestive symptoms and can contribute to inflammation and allergies.

Before farming, humans were mostly hunter-gathers, so if we came across a bit of naturally growing grain it was few and far between. Also, these grains would have been soaked and mashed to eat. It’s theorized that because humans did not consume large quantities of grains, flour, and legumes prior to the advent of farming practices we lack the necessary digestive enzymes to adequately digest quantities of grains and legumes. Sprouted grains and legumes are better suited to our digestive system because they include the enzymes needed to digest them.

What Are Sprouts?

Sprouts are the colourful plant-like growth which forms when certain foods are soaked in a small amount of water. Soaking begins a natural process called germination. Nature uses seeds, grain, nuts, and legumes to grow new plants, and it all begins with a germination process.

When these foods become wet it catalyzes growth enzymes to begin a chemical process for the growth of a new plant. This is called a sprout and sprouts are highly dense with enzymes and nutrients. The values of eating sprouts are many. Much of the value has to do with the chemicals and nutrients in the sprout itself, which are not available until germination occurs.

This is because un-soaked grains, legumes, and seeds contain what are called enzyme inhibitors – which prevent them from germinating and sprouting. It is only when they become wet that these growth enzymes are triggered and plant growth begins to happen.

Grains, legumes, and seeds also contain phytic acid and certain toxins to keep them from being eaten by animals and humans. Enzyme inhibitors, phytic acids, and toxins all contribute to grains, legumes and seeds being difficult to digest. Phytic acid also interacts with essential minerals like Calcium making them unavailable for your body to use. Once soaked, naturally occurring healthy Lactobacilli bacteria begins to grow and neutralize phytic acid and toxins, halting their negative effects.

Soaking, fermenting and sprouting also break down difficult to digest proteins like gluten found in most grains, except rice, quinoa, buckwheat, and millet.

What are Sprouts used for?

Sprouts are mainly used for their nutritional value.

In addition to being a living, enzyme-rich food, Sprouts have many vitamins and minerals. Just by sprouting these foods, their vitamins and minerals increase.

For instance the vitamin A content in sprouts doubles, B vitamins will increase 5 – 10 times, and vitamin C will also increase.

Once sprouted, proteins in grains, seeds, and legumes also become more digestible, and therefore bio-available. This is especially important for those who are vegetarians.

They are also rich in the minerals Calcium, iron and zinc.

Why do Sprouts work?

It’s commonly known that the new buds and growth of plants and herbs are highly nutrient dense and even medicinal. This is Mother Nature’s way of giving new and old plants the extra nutrients and energy they need to grow and produce a full sized plant.

By eating sprouts, we can benefit from this natural process by giving our body nutrient-dense vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and enzymes that we need to maintain health.

How can you use Sprouts?

Sprouts are great on salads, on sandwiches, or blended in health shakes.

There is just no wrong way of eating them.

One exception is they are best eaten raw. Cooking them can neutralize their beneficial enzymes.