Song: By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Artist: Glen Campbell
I had problems sprouting at my mother's house for a while.
I thought that perhaps the seeds were old.
My elder sister took some of the seeds to her home and said
that they had sprouted fine.
This is when I looked up the best temperature to sprout.
I keep the house at an even 70F...
but it was then that I realized that it was too cold to sprout
the seeds effectively.
So, for just a little more than a non-automated sprouter...
I got one that keeps the water in the well at the best temperature...
and automatically and periodically waters the sprouts from above...
and is on a timer (As measured in hours) and has a rechargeable battery for when you
unplug it to change the water in the well. This way you only have to set the timer once...
although you may add time to the timer at anytime.
In what used to take more than 5 days before...
with this...
they were ready in three.
I had found that the highest level of heat had sprouted the best.
You just need to rotate the trays and change the water in the well
once or twice a day.
Not only did the sprouts...
sprout in half the time...
but nearly all of the seeds had sprouted.
I always make a medley of broccoli and daikon sprouts.
I do this specifically for the combined healthful effects.
I had previously made a separate article on the health benefits below.
I also bought a variety of Japanese salad dressings to flavor the sprout salads.
My mother loves sprout salads...as do I.
Health Benefits of Broccoli
- New broccoli sprout study shows benefits carry into the offspring's adulthood. Eating broccoli sprouts during pregnancy may provide your kids with life-long protection against cardiovascular disease, according to a research team led by Bernhard Juurlink at the University of Saskatchewan.
- Broccoli packs a powerful punch to bladder cancer cells, according to new information from Ohio State University.
- Broccoli may bolster the body's defences against heart disease and stroke.
- The original press release on broccoli sprouts and cancer prevention.
- Now cholesterol too? A study from Japan shows that 1 cup of broccoli sprouts a day for 1 week lowers bad cholesterol, increases good.
- Broccoli sprouts may be useful to protect retina? A study shows protection of retina in mice. Very technical.
- Broccoli sprouts may sooth airway inflammation.
- Sulforaphane found in broccoli sprouts may rejuvenate the immune system. This article in Science Daily gives details. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, sulforaphane found in broccoli sprouts may reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular problems of hypertension and atherosclerosis.
The Sulforaphane content in broccoli sprouts is 50x the amount in full grown broccoli.
From the web:
Sprouts truly are the best locally-grown food, yet not enough people eat or grow them. Considering there many health and environmental benefits, it’s time to consider adding sprouts to your diet. Here are 10 reasons to eat more sprouts:
1. Experts estimate that there can be up to 100 times more enzymes in sprouts than uncooked fruits and vegetables. Enzymes are special types of proteins that act as catalysts for all your body’s functions. Extracting more vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and essential fatty acids from the foods you eat ensures that your body has the nutritional building blocks of life to ensure every process works more effectively.
2. The quality of the protein in the beans, nuts, seeds, or grains improves when it is sprouted. Proteins change during the soaking and sprouting process, improving its nutritional value. The amino acid lysine, for example, which is needed to prevent cold sores and to maintain a healthy immune system increases significantly during the sprouting process.
3. The fiber content of the beans, nuts, seeds, or grains increases substantially. Fiber is critical to weight loss. It not only binds to fats and toxins in our body to escort them out, it ensures that any fat our body breaks down is moved quickly out of the body before it can resorb through the walls of the intestines (which is the main place for nutrient absorption into the blood).
4. Vitamin content increases dramatically. This is especially true of vitamins A, B-complex, C, and E. The vitamin content of some seeds, grains, beans, or nuts increases by up to 20 times the original value within only a few days of sprouting. Research shows that during the sprouting process mung beansprouts (or just beansprouts, as they are often called) increase in vitamin B1 by up to 285 percent, vitamin B2 by up to 515 percent, and niacin by up to 256 percent.
5. Essential fatty acid content increases during the sprouting process. Most of us are deficient in these fat-burning essential fats because they are not common in our diet. Eating more sprouts is an excellent way to get more of these important nutrients.
6. During sprouting, minerals bind to protein in the seed, grain, nut, or bean, making them more useable in the body. This is true of alkaline minerals like calcium, magnesium, and others than help us to balance our body chemistry for weight loss and better health.
7. Sprouts are the ultimate locally-grown food. When you grow them yourself you are helping the environment and ensuring that you are not getting unwanted pesticides, food additives, and other harmful fat-bolstering chemicals that thwart your weight loss efforts.
8. The energy contained in the seed, grain, nut, or legume is ignited through soaking and sprouting.
9. Sprouts are alkalizing to your body. Many illnesses including cancer have been linked to excess acidity in the body.
10. Sprouts are inexpensive. People frequently use the cost of healthy foods as an excuse for not eating healthy. But, with sprouts being so cheap, there really is no excuse for not eating healthier.
More evidence that spicing up broccoli boosts its cancer-fighting power
Date:
September 13, 2011
Source:
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Summary:
Teaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new study.
Teaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new study.
Credit: © Joshua Resnick / Fotolia
Teaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new University of Illinois study.
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"To get this effect, spice up your broccoli with broccoli sprouts, mustard, horseradish, or wasabi. The spicier, the better; that means it's being effective," said Elizabeth Jeffery, a U of I professor of nutrition.
In the study, when fresh broccoli sprouts were eaten with broccoli powder, the scientists were able to measure bioactive compounds in the blood 30 minutes later. When these peaked at three hours, they were much higher when the foods were eaten together than when either was eaten alone. Urine samples corroborated the blood results, said Jenna Cramer, lead author of the study.
It's no secret that many people cook the benefits right out of broccoli instead of steaming it lightly for two to four minutes to protect its healthful properties, she said.
"However, this study shows that even if broccoli is overcooked, you can still boost its benefits by pairing it with another food that contains myrosinase," she said.
Myrosinase is the enzyme necessary to form sulforaphane, the vegetable's cancer-preventive component, co-author Margarita Teran-Garcia explained.
Note what happened with the fresh broccoli sprouts and broccoli powder eaten in this experiment. The powder doesn't contain myrosinase, but it does contain the precursor to the anti-cancer agent sulforaphane. Eaten together, the sprouts were able to lend their myrosinase to the powder. As predicted, both foods produced sulforaphane and provided greater anti-cancer benefit, Jeffery said.
Other foods that will boost broccoli's benefits if they are paired together include radishes, cabbage, arugula, watercress, and Brussels sprouts.
"Here's another benefit of protecting and enhancing the myrosinase in your foods," Jeffery said. "If myrosinase is present, sulforaphane is released in the ilium, the first part of your digestive system. Absorption happens well and quickly there, which is why we saw bioactivity in 30 minutes."
An earlier Jeffery study showed that microbiota are capable of releasing sulforaphane in the lower gut, but absorption happens more slowly in the colon than in the upper intestine, she said.
Scientists say that as little as three to five servings of broccoli a week provide a cancer-protective benefit.
"But it pays to spice it up for added benefits and find ways to make it appealing so you don't mind eating it if you're not a broccoli fan. I add fresh broccoli sprouts to sandwiches and add them as one of my pizza toppings after the pie is out of the oven," Cramer said.
