Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Benefits of Bean Sprouts

Certainly bean sprouts are a storehouse of number of vitamins and minerals. Bean sprouts not just have a lovely fresh flavor but they are extremely good for your health too. The bean sprouts that are easily available for you in market to relish are generally the sprouted moong beans. But you can easily sprout aduki bens, alfalfa, lentils and soybeans at your home too.

Do you know that the sprouting process of beans not only increase the nutritive value of beans but also reduces its calorific value too. Sprouted beans increase the digestive enzymes which facilitates digestion process of your body. But before indulging into a sprouting process, make sure you allow that much amount of humidity and warmth which are needed for proper sprouting otherwise it could lead to the growth of harmful bacteria. Therefore Extreme hygiene and caution should be taken during sprouting process to avoid the food borne illnesses.

Beans contains significant amount of proteins, vitamin C and number of essential B vitamins which are needed by your body for proper functioning of various body system.

People who go on for dieting, beans sprouts serve their best purpose. Mind it, the bean sprouts forms the ideal food for calorie conscious people as beans are very low in calories and can be eaten without any dressing over it.

Beans sprouts a have an excellent flavor, can be eaten raw in forms in salads or between sandwiches.

You can even treat bean sprouts as a snack item that can be eaten at any time of day. But Make sure you use the sprouts soon after buying. Don’t keep them for long hours, they might taste sour. Go for firm sprouts which are green and yellow in color not the limp ones. Avoid the ones that are turning brown.

Bean Sprouts

Energy value (calories per serving): Low

Protein: High Fat: Low

Saturated fat: Low

Cholesterol: None

Carbohydrates: High

Fiber: Moderate Sodium: Low

Major vitamin contribution: B vitamins, folate, vitamin C Major mineral contribution: Iron, potassium

 

About The Nutrients in Bean Sprouts

 

Because beans use stored starches and sugars to produce green shoots called sprouts, sprouted beans have less carbohydrate than the beans from which they grow. But bean sprouts are a good source of dietary fiber, including insoluble cellulose and lignin in leaf parts and soluble pectin and gums in the bean. The sprouts are also high in the B vitamin folate and vitamin C.

 

One-half cup raw mung bean sprouts has 1.2 g dietary fiber, 31.5 mcg folate (16 percent of the RDA for a man, 17.5 percent of the RDA for a woman), and 7 mg vitamin C (11.5 percent of the RDA).

 

Raw beans contain anti-nutrient chemicals that inhibit the enzymes we use to digest proteins and starches; hemagglutinens (substances that make red blood cells clump together); and "factors" that may inactivate vitamin A. These chemicals are usually destroyed when the beans are heated. Sprouted beans served with the bean must be cooked before serving.

 

Buying Bean Sprouts

 

Look for: Fresh, crisp sprouts. The tips should be moist and tender. (The shorter the sprout, the more tender it will be.) It is sometimes difficult to judge bean sprouts packed in plastic bags, but you can see through to tell if the tip of the sprout looks fresh. Sprouts sold from water-filled bowls should be refrigerated, protected from dirt and debris, and served with a spoon or tongs, not scooped up by hands.

 

Avoid: Mushy sprouts (they may be decayed) and soft ones (they have lost moisture and vitamin C).

 

Storing Bean Sprouts

 

Refrigerate sprouts in a plastic bag to keep them moist and crisp. If you bought them in a plastic bag, take them out and repack them in bags large enough that they do not crush each other. To get the most vitamin C, use the sprouts within a few days.

 

Preparing Bean Sprouts

 

Rinse the sprouts thoroughly under cold running water to get rid of dirt and sand. Discard any soft or browned sprouts, then cut off the roots and cook the sprouts.

 

Do not tear or cut the sprouts until you are ready to use them. When you slice into the sprouts, you tear cells, releasing enzymes that begin to destroy vitamin C.

 

What Happens When You Cook Bean Sprouts

 

Cooking destroys some of the heat-sensitive vitamin C in sprouts. To save it, steam the sprouts quickly, stir-fry them, or add them uncooked just before you serve the dish.

 

How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food

 

Canning. Vitamin C is heat-sensitive, and heating the sprouts during the canning process reduces their vitamin C content.

 

Medical Uses and/or Benefits

 

Lower risk of some birth defects. As many as two of every 1,000 babies born in the United States each year may have cleft palate or a neural tube (spinal cord) defect due to their mothers' not having gotten adequate amounts of folate during pregnancy. The current RDA for Eolate is 180 mcg for a woman and 200 mcg for a man, but the FDA now recommends 400 mcg for a woman who is or may become pregnant. Taking folate supplements before becoming pregnant and continuing through the first two months of pregnancy reduces the risk of cleft palate; taking folate through the entire pregnancy reduces the risk of neural tube defects.

 

Lower risk of heart attack. In the spring of 1998, an analysis of data from the records for more than 80,000 women enrolled in the long-running Nurses Health Study at Harvard School of Public Health/Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston demonstrated that a diet providing more than 400 mcg folate and 3 mg vitamin B6 a day from either food or supplements, more than twice the current RDA for each, may reduce a woman's risk of heart attack by almost 50 percent. Although men were not included in the analysis, the results are assumed to apply to them as well. NOTE: Fruit, green leafy vegetables, beans, whole grains, meat, fish, poultry, and shellfish are good sources of vitamin B6.

 

Adverse Effects Associated with Bean Sprouts

 

Food poisoning: Reacting to an outbreak of Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 food poisoning associated with eating raw alfalfa sprouts, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in 1998 and again in summer 1999, cautioning those at high risk of food-borne illness not to eat any raw sprouts. The high-risk group includes children, older adults, and people with a weakened immune system (for example, those who are HIV-positive or undergoing cancer chemotherapy). Tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1999 suggest that irradiating raw sprouts and bathing them in an antiseptic solution at the processing plant may eliminate disease organisms and prolong the vegetable's shelf life; this remains to be proven.


Source:

http://www.ayushveda.com/womens-magazine/health-benefits-of-bean-sprouts/

http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/vegetables-guide/bean-sprouts-2.php

2 comments:

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