2 replies to this topic

[stephen_b]

I was intrigued by this sentence in an article I posted about:

Take oats. There's a huge difference between rolled oats cooked in boiling water and whole oat groats put in a thermos overnight with hot water. Yes, they both taste just like warm oatmeal in the morning, but you can plant the puffed up "pre-sprouted" groats in the ground, and they will grow!!

Lots of people seem to be talking up sprouted foods as nutritionally superior. Is there any real evidence for this?

StephenB

[stephen_b]

There is a wikipedia article on sprouting. It quotes from "Nutritional improvement of cereals by sprouting", Crit-Rev-Food-Sci-Nutr. 1989; 28(5): 401-37, which has the abstract below:

Cereal grains form a major source of dietary nutrients for all people, particularly those in the developing countries. However, the nutritional quality of cereal grains and sensory properties of their products are inferior due to lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, lower protein and starch availabilities, presence of certain antinutrients, and the coarse nature of the grains. The consumption of sprouted cereals is becoming popular in various parts of the world. Sprouting of grains for a limited period causes increased activities of hydrolytic enzymes, improvement in the contents of certain essential amino acids, total sugars, and B-group vitamins, and a decrease in dry matter, starch, and antinutrients. The digestibilities of storage proteins and starch are improved due to their partial hydrolysis during sprouting. The magnitude of the nutritional improvement is, however, influenced by the type of cereal, seed quality, sprouting conditions, and it is not large enough to account for in feeding experiments with higher animals. In this review, the available literature concerning the nutritional improvement of cereals by sprouting and utilization of sprouted cereals in traditional and processed foods has been compiled and is critically reviewed.

Increasing the nutrient value to carb ratio is a good thing. Actually sprouting things all of the time sounds like it might be a lot of work though, so the benefits would have to make it worthwhile. Soaking beans overnight seems like a no-brainer.

StephenB

[senseix]

There is a wikipedia article on sprouting. It quotes from "Nutritional improvement of cereals by sprouting", Crit-Rev-Food-Sci-Nutr. 1989; 28(5): 401-37, which has the abstract below:

Cereal grains form a major source of dietary nutrients for all people, particularly those in the developing countries. However, the nutritional quality of cereal grains and sensory properties of their products are inferior due to lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, lower protein and starch availabilities, presence of certain antinutrients, and the coarse nature of the grains. The consumption of sprouted cereals is becoming popular in various parts of the world. Sprouting of grains for a limited period causes increased activities of hydrolytic enzymes, improvement in the contents of certain essential amino acids, total sugars, and B-group vitamins, and a decrease in dry matter, starch, and antinutrients. The digestibilities of storage proteins and starch are improved due to their partial hydrolysis during sprouting. The magnitude of the nutritional improvement is, however, influenced by the type of cereal, seed quality, sprouting conditions, and it is not large enough to account for in feeding experiments with higher animals. In this review, the available literature concerning the nutritional improvement of cereals by sprouting and utilization of sprouted cereals in traditional and processed foods has been compiled and is critically reviewed.

Increasing the nutrient value to carb ratio is a good thing. Actually sprouting things all of the time sounds like it might be a lot of work though, so the benefits would have to make it worthwhile. Soaking beans overnight seems like a no-brainer.

StephenB

They have machines that help in making the process alot more easier than doing it all by hand. So i think when using something to aid in that process it becomes alot less work, and more of a routine. I was myself thinking about doing sprouting in the coming months. Would be interested in hearing anyones take on it who has been doing it.