FOR YOUR HEALTH:DON’T FORGET THE SPROUTS!
The National Cancer institute and the National Institutes of Health both recommend eating five fresh fruits and vegetables every day. A great way to help reach that goal is to include sprouts.

Sprouts are the only form of agriculture that can be locally grown and available in all four seasons. These "baby" vegetables are grown from seed to salad in only week. That makes them great Y2K food. In fact, one pound of alfalfa seed will yield 10-14 pounds of fresh mini-salad greens. Whether you are on top of a mountain or in a bunker with artificial light, you can still grow this fast, organic food.

Nutrition
Yes, it is fast food, but you won't be sacrificing any nutrition. Alfalfa sprouts have more chlorophyll than spinach, kale, cabbage or parsley. Alfalfa, sunflower, clover and radish sprouts are all 4% protein. Compare that to spinach (3%), Romaine lettuce (1.5%), Iceberg lettuce (0.8%), and milk (3.3%). These foods all have about 90% water. Andwhile meat and eggs are the traditional protein foods for Americans,at 19% and 13% protein respectively (and lots of fat), soybean sproutshave 28% protein, and lentil and pea sprouts have 26%. In fact, soybeanssprouts have twice the protein of eggs and only 1/10 fat the fat.

Grain and nut sprouts, such as wheat and sunflower, are rich in fats. While fats in flour and wheat germ have a reputation for going rancid quickly (stores should refrigerate them), fats in sprouts last for weeks. The valuable wheat germ oil in wheat sprouts is broken down into its essential fatty acid fractions, over 50% of which isthe valuable Omega 6. While sunflower oil is our finest source of Omega6, germination of the sunflower sprout micellizes the fatty acids intoan easily digestible, water soluble form saving our body the troubleof breaking it down and simultaneously protecting us against the perils of rancidity. This is a great bonus for a sprout that is already popular for its crispness and nutty flavor.

Radish sprouts have 29 times more Vitamin C than milk (29 mg vs 1 mg) and 4 times the Vitamin A (391 IU vs 126 IU). These spicy sprouts have 10 times more calcium than a potato (51 mg vs 5 mg) and contain more vitamin C than pineapple. If you examine what is happening during germination, it looks like a vitamin factory. While mature radishes contain 10 IU/100g of provitamin, the radish sprouts contain 391 IU – 39 times more! No wonder, sprout lovers say you can feel the vitamins!

  PhytochemicalFactory
Alfalfa, radish, broccoli, clover and soybean contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals (plant compounds) that can protect us against disease. Canavanine, an amino acid analog present in alfalfa, demonstrates resistence to pancreatic, colon and leukemia cancers.Plant estrogens in these sprouts function similarly to human estrogenbut without the side effects. They increase bone formation and densityand prevent bone breakdown (osteoporosis). They are helpful in controlling hot flashes, menopause, PMS and fibrocystic breasts tumors.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers found in broccoli sprouts substantial amounts of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, which are very potent inducers of phase 2 enzymesthat protect cells from going malignant. The sprouts contain 10-100times higher levels of these enzymes than do the corresponding matureplants.

Alfalfa sprouts are one of our finest food sources of saponins. Saponins lower the bad cholesterol and fat but not thegood HDL fats. Animal studies prove their benefit in arteriosclerosisand cardiovascular disease. Saponins also stimulate the immune systemby increasing the activity of natural killer cells such as T- lymphocytes and interferon. The saponin content of alfalfa sprouts multiplies 450% over that of the unsprouted seed. Sprouts also contain an abundanceof highly active antioxidants that prevent DNA destruction and protectus from the ongoing effects of aging. It wouldn't be inconceivable tofind a fountain of youth here, after all, sprouts represent the miracleof birth.

Are Alfalfa Sprouts Safe?
Recently, stories about alfalfa sprouts carrying salmonella bacteria have made the news. Salmonella is bad news, but no food is immune to it. All foods eaten raw carry that risk, and that includes fresh fruit and vegetables. Should we go on a 100% cooked food diet?

Let us put things into perspective. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 4 million people contract salmonellosis from foods every year and 93% of these cases are caused by meat, poultry, milk and eggs. The remaining 7% of cases are from shellfish, freshfruits and vegetables. While fruits and veggies are safer than meat,one outbreak from Mexican cantaloupes in 1989 caused 25,000 cases ofsalmonella. Compare this to sprouts. In its entire 40 year history,the U.S. sprout industry has had a total of about 2,000 cases.

The relatively tiny sprout industry has been naturally clean all these years but because of increasing global commerce, they imported contaminated seed from the Netherlands. Now, they are part of the international problem of food safety. What are they doing about it? Conscientious growers are testing grown sprouts for e-coli and salmonella before they are shipped. The FDA has recommended the chlorination of sprouts, similar to the chlorination of our municipal waters. This achieves a 99.8% reduction of salmonella and E. Coli contamination.Put another way, if another occurrence of tainted seed should occur,there would be only a 0.02% probability that any such bacteria couldsurvive. The problem is that unlike meat and poultry, the tiny sproutindustry is not regulated and not every sprout grower is willing tochlorinate. Sprout growers want to keep sprouts raw and organic. Alternativepasteurization methods such as heating the raw seeds before sproutingor soaking them in acetic acid (vinegar), among others, are currentlybeing tested.

According to the National Weather Service, lightning strikes 1.29 people per million each year. The CDC claims that E. coli contamination from all foods annually afflicts 1.10 people per million. Since your chances of getting hit by lightning are greater than contracting e-coli, it is a pretty good bet that the benefits of eating these healthy young vegetables far outweigh the risks.

That being said, we ONLY use seeds that have not been grown in manure, use pure filtered water and assure the freshest, healthiest sprouts to you.