Are Sprouted Grains better for you ? I vaguely remember the period of the school years, when we were given tasks to germinate seeds.
I remember putting various caps, jars and damp cotton on the windows, but that’s it.
The interest in sprouts came at a much later stage, when I became consciously interested in nutrition and what we get from food.
Sprouted foods are known as “super foods”, which are credited with a number of health benefits and rich nutrient content in terms of micro nutrients.
Let’s take a deeper look at their world to see if they are really as useful as they claim.
Table of Contents
Is this the consumption of Sprouted Grains?
There are people who classify sprouts as another fashion in nutrition, but this is not the case.
Sprouted food has long been known to mankind and has been used in the traditional cuisine of various cultures.
- For example, traditional East Asian cuisine uses fermented beans to make miso;
- In China, sprouted wheat, millet, or barley were consumed as a breakfast cereal;
- The first wine in Neolithic China was made from cooked rice or ground with sprouted grains.
It is said that in fact most of the cereals that mankind has consumed in the past have been in the form of germination, soaking or fermentation. I do not know what necessitates our detachment from these traditions.
Perhaps the fast pace of modern society is the basis of "forgetting" the sprouts, but they are cheap food, which at the same time is rich in micro nutrients and it is worth trying to include it in your diet.
What are the Sprouted Grains?
Sprouts are an intermediate stage between the seed and the mature plant – a time when plants are rich in energy, enzymes and nutrients. Germination involves soaking seeds, nuts, legumes or grains for a few hours, then rinsing repeatedly until a sprout that looks like a tail appears. Soaking actually softens the shell of the grain, which allows the sprout to grow.
Nutrients and anti-nutrients
When we talk about sprouts, we can not fail to mention the interesting topic in my opinion about nutrients and, accordingly, anti-nutrients. If someone eats french fries with ketchup, for example, we can clearly say that what is consumed is poor in valuable nutrients. Interestingly, however, there are cases in which nutrients from foods obviously rich in them cannot be absorbed and used by the body due to the so-called antinutrients. Anti-nutrients have the main purpose of protecting food (for example, to protect the grain from insects), but when we consume them, it is difficult to absorb certain substances.
However, some anti-nutrients can help us by protecting us from disease. You can read more about the topic and what the main anti-nutrients are in our article "Living Food".
What are the benefits of food germination
The usefulness of food germination lies in the fact that it is a way to eliminate anti-nutrients and make nutrients more accessible. Other such methods are soaking and fermentation or a combination of several methods. Germination increases the bioavailability of zinc, iron and calcium, and also reduces phenols and tannins in some foods. (1) The extent to which these changes will occur depends on:
- pH levels of the water in which the food is soaked;
- duration of soaking;
- duration of germination.
Soaking, germination and fermentation in general can help reduce anti-nutrients by up to 50%.
Edible sprouts are a valuable source of a variety of micro nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids), macro nutrients (protein, low in carbohydrates and high in dietary fiber).
They are another way to include valuable bioactive ingredients if introduced into a person's diet on a regular basis.
There are currently studies that promote the consumption of cruciferous vegetable sprouts (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) as an interesting source of biomolecules with potential health benefits in terms of anti-inflammatory effects and antioxidant potential.
These sprouts show a contribution to the normalization of blood glucose levels and normalization of the lipid profile.
How to germinate and consume
You are probably wondering what foods can be subjected to the germination process? Almost all seeds and cereals can be germinated, but there are some exceptions:
- Nuts (such as walnuts and pecans) cannot germinate, but soaking them is a good idea, as is generally for nuts;
- Cereals and legumes should be subjected to heat treatment after germination;
- Alfalfa sprouts are unfit for consumption because they are associated with health problems ;
- Raw cocoa beans also cannot germinate.
The germination process is based on the same principle for all foods, but changes the duration of soaking and rinsing according to the type of food.
What to watch out for?
If you are not sure whether a food can germinate or not, research in advance. Once again, we want to mention that it is good for beans and grains to undergo heat treatment after germination. Care should also be taken for bacterial infections, as it is not difficult to develop pathogenic bacteria with poorly maintained germination.
Germination seems easy, but …
… I don’t have time / I’m bored / I don’t care, but I want to take advantage of the health benefits of these Sprouted Grains. ” Yes, there are such people and this is completely normal. Let me tell you, I’m among them. Although I like to cook my own food and it is very rare for me to eat outside, there are things in the kitchen that I do not feel like “mine”, do not give me pleasure and therefore do not do them. Examples are seed germination and vegetable fermentation. In order to include such foods in my menu, because leaving aside their health benefits, they are delicious, sometimes I buy ready-made.
Fortunately, the market sells different types of ready-made sprouts, with which you can enrich your salad, for example.
Monitor the expiration date and their freshness, as well as the appearance - no darkened / rotten areas, etc.
Another way to get sprouts on the menu is in the form of food supplements.
There are various formulas, including sprouted and fermented seeds, cereals, legumes. They are in powder form and can be taken with various liquids (juice, smoothies, nut milk, yogurt).
To end up with Of course, as the BB-Team team has repeatedly clarified, nutritional supplements are just that - supplements to an already built full menu to be able to get the most out of their benefits. Sprouts, whether in the form of food or a supplement, are no exception - they have health benefits, but they are not magical in themselves and can not work wonders with a poor diet (with many semi-finished products, added sugar and lack of whole seasonal food). are u wondering How much water should I drink?
