Most people are familiar with alfalfa sprouts, which are commonly used on sandwiches. Few people, however, know that they pack an incredible nutritional punch…. Recent studies have shown that alfalfa, clover, broccoli, flaxseed, and soybean sprouts are nature’s richest sources of isoflavones, coumestans, and lignins, which play an important role in the prevention of breast and colon cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and menopausal symptoms. Broccoli contains a substance that may be thousands of times more powerful than antioxidants in fighting heart disease. However, according to a University of Saskatchewan study, it would be nearly impossible for most people to eat enough broccoli per day to give them a substantial benefit. Broccoli sprouts, on the other hand, contain 20 to 50 times more of this substance than the mature plant, meaning that a handful or two per day may allow your body to “correct major cardiovascular dysfunctions such as hypertension and stroke” according to the study’s lead author. [emphasis added]
Excerpted from Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R. J. Ruppenthal

Mom always told you to eat your vegetables. Now, in addition to being a good boy and earning your dessert, it turns out you may be fighting certain stomach cancers, gastritis, and ulcers. Thanks, Mom!

April 6, 2009 — Munching on broccoli sprouts may help protect the stomach from the germ responsible for many cases of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancer.

A new study shows that eating 2 1/2 ounces of three-day-old broccoli sprouts every day for at least two months may offer at least some protection against the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), one of the most common bacterial infections in the world.

Researchers say it’s the first study to show a beneficial effect of broccoli sprouts on a bacterial infection behind stomach cancer.

Broccoli sprouts are much higher than mature broccoli heads in delivering a biochemical called sulforaphane, which has previously been shown to have potentially anticancer effects. The compound appears to work by triggering the body, especially the gastrointestinal tract, to produce enzymes that protect against damage-causing chemicals and inflammation.

“We know that a dose of a couple ounces a day of broccoli sprouts is enough to elevate the body’s protective enzymes,” researcher Jed W. Fahey, MS, ScD, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says in a news release. “That is the mechanism by which we think a lot of the chemoprotective effects are occurring.”

Broccoli Sprouts Take Bite out of Bug

In the study, published in Cancer Prevention Research, 48 Japanese adults (average age 55) infected with H. pylori were randomly assigned to eat 2 1/2 ounces of broccoli sprouts or an equal amount of alfalfa sprouts every day for two months.

The results show that the participants who had eaten broccoli sprouts had significantly lower evidence of H. pylori presence in stool studies and breath tests. They also had less evidence of inflammation in the stomach than participants given the alfalfa sprouts.

Read the whole article here.

Related articles:

• Sprout Today, Eat Healthy Tomorrow
• Simple and Tasty Recipes You Can Make Using Your Homegrown Sprouts
• Video: Sprouting Your Way through Winter

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