May 20, 2007

Broccoli Sprouts: Yucky? But They're Cancer Fighting Superheros


For all you readers who make yourselves eat cruciferous vegetables like Broccoli, Bok Choy, and Cauliflower 'cause they're good for you:

Keep it up! They're really amazing cancer fighters.

(Of course some people eat them because they like them. Crabby is not usualy one of these people. On occasion, if the unlikable veggie is blended in with other more appealing ingredients, and smothered in a particularly delectable sauce, even Crabby can appreciate them. But steamed and plopped unadorned on her plate? Blechh).

A new study has confirmed once again that cruciferous vegetables are a particularly potent cancer fighter. But here's the interesting part: Broccoli sprouts have about fifty times the cancer-fighting stuff in them.

Crabby has never tried a broccoli sprout. She's very curious. Are they nasty? Nastier than regular broccoli? Anyone try 'em yet?

24 comments:

  1. I haven't gone the sprout route yet, Crabby, but I rather like the full-grown versions of cauliflower and broccoli.
    Baked with olive oil and fresh lemon juice plus spices esp. cayenne and/or dill help considerably. They're also good raw with a proper dip.
    But you're right. Steamed and in all their glory on the plate don't do much for me either.

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  2. I have had baby broccoli which is pretty good. My family like to dip steamed broccoli in mayo. A little Good and a little bad but, tasty.

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  3. Haven't tried broccoli sprouts but do try to eat my greens most days although my hair is steadfastedly refusing to anything more than cling limply to my head!

    My husband is Maori and one dish I've been introduced to is "the boil-up" where you cook all the meat and veges (including highly nutrious greens like watercress) in a pot for hours but don't thicken the liquid like a stew. You eat the meat and vege and tip the liquid out - which is probably where most of the nutrients have got to!

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  4. I can't believe what good sports you all are to come here and comment on broccoli sprouts.

    This is one of those boring SEO posts meant to attract googling health freaks, with the hope that some of them will be strange and twisted enough to return every now and then.

    Leah--hmmm, that sounds slightly more healthy than I like my broccoli, but promising nonetheless.

    And Samantha-is baby broccoli the same thing as broccolini? 'Cause I actually like broccolini sometimes, if sauteed in enough garlic and olive oil and hidden within a pasta dish.

    And Dawn--um, sorry, I think you're right. Just saw a study (with an outrageously long link, so I won't copy it here) that said that boiling for long periods pretty much destroyed all the cancer-fighting aspects of these particular vegetables. But it actually sounds kind of tasty.

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  5. Just stopped back to let you know the evil deed is done, Crabby.
    You'll never have to try the orange juice with fish oil unless you want to.
    I found some Tropicana products on sale and got one 1.89 litre carton each of the Omega-3 and the calcium added versions.
    What the hey. I'd been avoiding them both.
    The fish-added juice is okay.
    It contains refined fish oil from anchovies and sardines, fish gelatin (fish gelatin??), sodium polyphosphate, sodium ascorbate, soybean oil, tocopherols (soy), and transglutaminase.
    It tastes fine. You'd never know about the extras. And no fish burps to report.
    According to a side panel Tropicana Essentials (R) Orange Juice Beverage offers 0.1 g of Omega-3 poluyunsaturate per 250 ml. I don't know if 0.1g in a cup of juice is good or bad, but it's what's there.

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  6. Broccoli is the photo that you have posted. The sprout is the fuzzy green tip. That is the only part anybody ever eats anyway. What kind of broccoli have you been eating? Square patties? Do you only eat the stems? Maybe you have broccoli confused with asparagus?

    I don't mean to sound crabby, but Broccoli is Broccoli. Eat it steamed, baked, boiled, or however. Toast it with parmesan cheese. Microwave it with any kind of grated cheese. Dip it in blue cheese salad dressing.

    Broccoli is great, except that once you buy it you have to stuff down the whole batch or else it gets stale in a couple of days and dries out or gets mushy.

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  7. I haven't heard of broccoli sprouts (did the article mean to say brussel sprouts?). I have had broccoli rabe and I like that. I like quite a few veggies - I love brussel sprouts (especially the baby ones) with garlic, roasted califlower, steamed broccoli, roasted baby carrots, and spinach (especially with fish). Roasting and adding garlic really helps with veggies - so maybe they wouldn't be so icky. Grating them into low fat gravies, soups and tomato sauce is another way to enjoy them. I've had broccoli with a splash of lemon and I agree with the comment above its very tasty.

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  8. Leah: For the love of fuzzy bunny, I can't believe you did that. Hooray for you! I'm almost disappointed to find out the orange juice didn't even taste funny. How could it not, with fish in it? And now I've slandered the poor juice, when it didn't do anything wrong. Thanks mightily for your research.

    Lady Rose--thanks for the serving suggestions, you almsot make them sound palatable! I like the sneaky grating of veggies and hiding them in sauces, too.

    And no Spider, the "broccoli sprouts" mentioned are more sprouty than regular broccoli--they look kind of like alfalfa sprouts. I couldn't find a free picture to steal, so that's regular broccoli, which I think you're right, is also a sprout. Not patty shaped and not asparagus.

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  9. Hmmm, I've never tried broccoli sprouts, either. But I love, love, love broccoli and cauliflower. I love it freshly steamed or boiled or raw, but hey, ranch dressing never hurts... ;-D

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  10. Hey folks, www.broccosprouts.com has images of broccoli sprouts and recipes to give you an idea how to eat them. I'm a fan, so I don't mean to shamelessly advertise here -- they taste kind of radish-y when raw, nutty when cooked.

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  11. Linda, hooray!
    Some actual information about broccoli sprouts. Thank you!.

    I actually really would like to try them--so I shall mosey on over to the site and find out where to get them and what to do with them.

    And Shameless Blog Promotion is totally the name of the game at Cranky Fitness. So you're not even close to "advertising." I asked a question and you answered it, and for that i'm very grateful!

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  12. Hey Crabby,

    Glad to help. Loove your blog!

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  13. this may sound crazy but i love a huge bowl of steamed brocoli with lots of butter spray. its delicious!! am i a freak? i also love steamed cauliflower with garlic salt & of course my beloved butter spray.

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  14. Broccoli is great, except that once you buy it you have to stuff down the whole batch or else it gets stale in a couple of days and dries out or gets mushy.

    BTW, Crabby, nice blog!

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  15. Hi Kelly--damn, I saw your comment days ago and really thought I'd said at least something stupid in reply. Sometimes I forget to hit "publish." Anyway, I don't think you're a freak--or at least not for your taste in vegetables. I'm hoping you're freaky in other more interesting ways.

    Croaas, welcome!
    It doesn't seem fair, does it? Broccoli is a hard vegetable to get excited about and then once you've made the commitment and bought some you have to hurry up and eat it quickly. Or end up tossing it out, which I've done on more than one occasion. And thanks for the compliment!

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  16. I'm new and browsing, and just thought I'd let you know that I loveeeee broccoli when it's cooked with... well, just about anything! Except overcooked broccoli is icky, and raw is rough to eat.

    :D

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  17. Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for stopping by!

    Broccoli lovers are lucky, because the stuff is so incredibly good for you. I eat it anyway, but if you really like it that's great!

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  18. Hello, randomly found this blog on broccoli sprouts when i was looking for their health benefits.

    I have tried both broccoli sprout and broccoli sprout juice, which comes in 1 oz. containers. FYI, raw sprouts do not taste very pleasant and the liquid extract form is much worse. I have to plug my nose just to take the shot.

    But, just to comment to someone who said they cook the sprouts: DONT! When you cook a vegetable you destroy 80% of the foods nutritive value as well as 100% of the enzymes. When you consume foods that are rich in enzymes, it basically digests itself. Giving you a surplus of energy.

    So overall, its best to aim for a diet full of raw food, (not meat, of course). That way, you get the most out of what nature has to offer! Hope this isn't old news lol.

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  19. Um just wandered onto this site while googling. It's true that broccoli sprout has very high cancer fighting properties but to those that have been commenting about cooking the sprouts I would really suggest you didn't. Especially don't microwave it, microwaving food degrades it severely and the nutritional value left will be pretty pathetic.

    If you're taking the sprouts for cancer fighting you should take it raw or else there's really no point. You can get broccoli sprout juice in little vials at natural health food stores. They don't taste very good but it's very helpful to those that need it to help fight cancer.

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  20. I just had broccoli sprouts for the first time i a vegetable sandwich on twelve grain bread toasted with avocado smeared on the bread in place of mayo with tomato cuccumbers onionand sharp cheese. It was so delicious i couldn't believe it. Don't forget the salt. Broccoli sprouts are so flavorful. I loaded them in the sandwich cuz they were so good and gave it such a good flavor

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  21. I didn't know they were so Cancer fighting. That's great because i really like them. I just left the last comment as anonymous. They look exactly like alfalfa sprouts but they have a stronger flavor, where alfalfa sprouts are sort of flavorless in a way.

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  22. Broccoli sprouts in a bottle! Raw, whole, no refrigeration see then on line at www.vegusdirect.com If you like broccoli you'll love the intensity. If you always hated broccoli you'll really hate thius stuff (about 18% of everybody have superreceptors that magnify th etaste of broccoli about 100 times - way too much!)

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  23. The key to the benefits of Broccoli Sprout Juice is that it be consumed as fresh, unpasturized, raw juice. As a raw whole food it is important that it be as fresh as possible. There are very few producers of true, fresh, pure Broccoli Sprout Juice as a raw food. I only know of one company. Yes, as it is fresh, it does have a shelf life. How comfortable would you be to something arriving in the mail from who knows where. In Canada check with your local health food store for the best fresh product on the market. I saw them, they are real people who really care about people and their health, at the Total Health Show in Toronto in March (2010). You can find out more information at www.gardengatefarms.com . If you email them they will actually email you back. Check out their Fresh, pure, unpasturized, raw Wheatgrass Juice too. It is the best I have ever tasted! Don't take my word for it. Try it for your self. I have been enjoying their products for over 2 years. Thank you Garden Gate Farms.

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  24. HI! I know this is an old thread but hey, I thought I'd let ya know I have tried broccoli sprouts. I don't usually eat veggies but when I was looking for alfalfa sprouts I saw broccoli sprouts. Knowing the cancer fighting benefits of broccoli but loathing broccoli, I bought the sprouts. They don't seem any different to alfalfa sprouts to me! A sandwich of roast beef, a heap of broccoli sprouts, tomato, beetroot, capsicum and mayo and YUMMO - subway eat your heart out :) I highly recommend the sprouts for any veggie haters!

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