What Are the Benefits of Sprouting?

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."