Broccoli sprouts are likely safer and more nutritious than alfalfa sprouts.
Broccoli Sprouts
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Last year’s scientific data gave us reason to stop eating raw alfalfa sprouts, because of the related outbreaks of food poisoning. But what about broccoli sprouts? Check out this study.
They burned someone’s arm with a UV laser, here and here. Same burn, but on the left side they had first essentially just rubbed some broccoli sprouts on the skin, and you can visibly see the cellular protection. And this is not like sunblock. The researchers repeated the experiment in a different place, but this time they rubbed on the sprout extract, washed it off, and then waited three days before burning the person again. The left side had some broccoli sprouts rubbed on, essentially, and washed off three days prior, and you can still see how protected the cells are.
But what about the risk of food poisoning? Five million packages of broccoli sprouts were tested for pathogens. Overall, did they find that raw broccoli sprouts are harmful, harmless, or helpful? Less than one in 1,000 containers were contaminated. So, go for it!
Though raw alfalfa sprouts are indeed too risky to eat, eggs are linked every year to literally a thousand times more food poisoning than sprouts. Salmonella-infected eggs cause a foodborne epidemic every year in the United States, sickening more than 100,000 Americans annually.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore and Karen Belfi.
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- P. Talalay, J.W. Fahey, Z.R. Healy, S.L. Wehage, A.L. Benedict, C. Min, & A.T. Dinkova-Kostova. Sulforaphane mobilizes cellular defenses that protect skin against damage by UV radiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 104(44):17500-17505, 2007.
- J.W. Fahey, P.J. Ourisson, & F.H. Degnan. Pathogen detection, testing, and control in fresh broccoli sprouts. Nutr J, 5:13, 2006.
Last year’s scientific data gave us reason to stop eating raw alfalfa sprouts, because of the related outbreaks of food poisoning. But what about broccoli sprouts? Check out this study.
They burned someone’s arm with a UV laser, here and here. Same burn, but on the left side they had first essentially just rubbed some broccoli sprouts on the skin, and you can visibly see the cellular protection. And this is not like sunblock. The researchers repeated the experiment in a different place, but this time they rubbed on the sprout extract, washed it off, and then waited three days before burning the person again. The left side had some broccoli sprouts rubbed on, essentially, and washed off three days prior, and you can still see how protected the cells are.
But what about the risk of food poisoning? Five million packages of broccoli sprouts were tested for pathogens. Overall, did they find that raw broccoli sprouts are harmful, harmless, or helpful? Less than one in 1,000 containers were contaminated. So, go for it!
Though raw alfalfa sprouts are indeed too risky to eat, eggs are linked every year to literally a thousand times more food poisoning than sprouts. Salmonella-infected eggs cause a foodborne epidemic every year in the United States, sickening more than 100,000 Americans annually.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore and Karen Belfi.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org
- P. Talalay, J.W. Fahey, Z.R. Healy, S.L. Wehage, A.L. Benedict, C. Min, & A.T. Dinkova-Kostova. Sulforaphane mobilizes cellular defenses that protect skin against damage by UV radiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 104(44):17500-17505, 2007.
- J.W. Fahey, P.J. Ourisson, & F.H. Degnan. Pathogen detection, testing, and control in fresh broccoli sprouts. Nutr J, 5:13, 2006.
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Title
Broccoli Sprouts
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
More on broccoli sprouts:
- Broccoli: Sprouts vs. Supplements
- Sulforaphane: From Broccoli to Breast
- Biggest Nutrition Bang for Your Buck
And food poisoning:
- Who Says Eggs Aren’t Healthy or Safe?
- Chicken Salmonella Thanks to Meat Industry Lawsuit
- Foster Farms Responds to Chicken Salmonella Outbreaks
- MRSA Superbugs in Meat
For more context, check out my associated blog post, Breast Cancer Stem Cells vs. Broccoli.
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