Alfalfa Srouts.... are they really so healthy????

Along the way, my research has uncovered this interesting fact:

That the mighty alfalfa sprout - that any self respecting health food nut would be happy to sprinkle liberally on their salads or stuff in their wholemeal pitta bread sandwhiches - is not as good for us as we are led to believe....

I first came upon this info in the great "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon as mentioned in my previous post. There it mentions that these innocent looking sprouts have been shown to "inhibit the immune system and contribute to inflammatory arthritis and lupus"...
This is seems is caused by an amino acid called canavanine....

I also found some information about this at another amazing website I found

www.beyondveg.com

the following excerpt is from the article comparing the virtues of raw and cooked foods..... "Alfalfa sprouts contain approximately 1.5% canavanine, a substance which, when fed to monkeys, causes a severe lupus erythematosus-like syndrome. (In humans, lupus is an autoimmune disease.) Canavanine is an analog for the amino acid arginine, and takes its place when incorporated into proteins. However, alfalfa that is cooked by autoclaving (i.e., subjected to pressure-cooking) doesn't induce this effect [Malinow 1982, Malinow 1984].

Note here that the monkeys were fed semi-purified diets, with a canavanine content of 1-2%, versus a typical canavanine content of 1.5% (dry weight--that is, when completely dehydrated) for alfalfa sprouts [Malinow 1982]. Thus, although it would be very difficult for a human to eat enough fresh alfalfa sprouts to ingest even 1% canavanine, individuals should be aware of the potential risks, and consume (or not consume) alfalfa sprouts accordingly. (In particular, those rawists who juice sprouts should probably strictly limit or avoid the consumption of alfalfa sprout juice, due to the concentration effect that results from juicing.)"

Food for thought eh!

makes you wonder what other super healthy things we blindly eat without questioning the validity of health claims.....

more of that to come....