Growing Edible Sprouts/Nutrition

Sprouts are often classified as herbs rather than vegetables in grocery stores in the United States, the assumption being that sprouts are used to provide flavor or texture to food, rather than being a significant part of a person's diet. Not all sprout varieties have been analyzed for nutritional content.

Two types of sprouts, mung bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts, are analyzed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for content of certain nutrients. The USDA analyzes food by weight and volume for specific nutrients considered essential to good health at certain levels. As is true with most edible plants, alfalfa sprouts and mung bean sprouts contain protein, carbohydrates, lipids (fats), minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients.

Alfalfa sprouts weigh 33 grams (1.2 oz) per cup volume, and mung bean sprouts weigh 104 grams (3.7 oz) per cup volume. (Keep in mind that a cup volume is not the same as a liquid measure of one cup, which is 8 fluid ounces.)

Mung bean sprouts, by weight and volume, have most nutrient values exceeding raw spinach, a vegetable high in most plant-based nutrients analyzed by the USDA. Alfalfa sprouts have four times the protein of iceberg lettuce by weight, but only twice its protein by volume. Lettuce has less vitamin C and more vitamin A than alfalfa sprouts.

"Seeds that sprout in distilled water contain more potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and sulphur than before the seeds begin to sprout."

Nutritional Content of Alfalfa Sprouts

Comparing the nutrients in a cup of alfalfa sprouts to the nutrients in the same volume of lettuce or spinach will give you some idea how young leafy sprout nutrients compare to those in the mature leaves of commonly consumed plants.

Alfalfa sprouts are higher in protein and lipids than lettuce and spinach greens, but alfalfa sprouts contain very little sugar. Alfalfa sprouts are a good source of phosphorus and zinc, but they are not an especially good source of calcium or iron. Alfalfa sprouts are not a good source of vitamins A, E or K, but the lipids in alfalfa sprouts are predominantly polyunsaturated. Alfalfa sprouts are not a good source of beta carotene.

		Alfalfa Sprouts	Lettuce (Iceberg)	Spinach
	UOM	33 gm	72 gm	30 gm
PROXIMATES
Water	gm	30.63	68.86	27.42
Energy	kcal	8	10	7
Protein	gm	1.32	0.65	0.86
Total lipid (fat)	gm	0.23	0.1	0.12
Ash	gm	0.13	0.26	0.52
Carbohydrate, by difference	gm	0.69	2.14	1.09
Fiber, total dietary	gm	0.6	0.9	0.7
Sugars, total	gm	0.06	1.42	0.13
Sucrose	gm	0	0.04	0.02
Glucose (dextrose)	gm	0.03	0.66	0.03
Fructose	gm	0.04	0.72	0.04
Lactose	gm	0	0	0
Maltose	gm	0	0	0
Galactose	gm	0	0	0.03
MINERALS
Calcium (Ca)	mg	11	13	30
Iron (Fe)	mg	0.32	0.3	0.81
Magnesium (Mg)	mg	9	5	24
Phosphorus (P)	mg	23	14	15
Potassium (K)	mg	26	102	167
Sodium (Na)	mg	2	7	24
Zinc (Zn)	mg	0.3	0.11	0.16
Copper (Cu)	mg	0.052	0.018	0.039
Manganese (Mn)	mg	0.062	0.09	0.269
Selenium (Se)	mcg	0.2	0.1	0.3
VITAMINS
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	mg	2.7	2	8.4
Thiamin	mg	0.025	0.03	0.023
Riboflavin	mg	0.042	0.018	0.057
Niacin	mg	0.159	0.089	0.217
Pantothenic acid	mg	0.186	0.066	0.02
Vitamin B-6	mg	0.011	0.03	0.059
Folate, total	mcg	12	21	58
Folic acid	mcg	0	0	0
Folate, food	mcg	12	21	58
Folate, DFE	mcg_DFE	12	21	58
Choline, total	mg	4.8	4.8	5.4
Betaine	mg	0.1	0.1	165.1
Vitamin B-12	mcg	0	0	0
Vitamin A (IU)	IU	51	361	2813
Vitamin A (RAE)	mcg_RAE	3	18	141
Retinol	mcg	0	0	0
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	mg	0.01	0.13	0.61
Tocopherol, beta	mg		0	0
Tocopherol, gamma	mg		0.06	0.05
Tocopherol, delta	mg		0	0
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	mcg	10.1	17.4	144.9
LIPIDS
Fatty acids, total saturated	gm	0.023	0.013	0.019
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	gm	0.018	0.004	0.003
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	gm	0.135	0.053	0.05
Cholesterol	mg	0	0	0
Phytosterols	mg		7	3
AMINO ACIDS
Tryptophan	gm		0.006	0.012
Threonine	gm	0.044	0.018	0.037
Isoleucine	gm	0.047	0.013	0.044
Leucine	gm	0.088	0.018	0.067
Lysine	gm	0.071	0.017	0.052
Methionine	gm		0.004	0.016
Cystine	gm		0.004	0.011
Phenylalanine	gm		0.017	0.039
Tyrosine	gm		0.005	0.032
Valine	gm	0.048	0.017	0.048
Arginine	gm		0.011	0.049
Histidine	gm		0.006	0.019
Alanine	gm		0.018	0.043
Aspartic acid	gm		0.09	0.072
Glutamic acid	gm		0.14	0.103
Glycine	gm		0.011	0.04
Proline	gm		0.007	0.034
Serine	gm		0.018	0.031
OTHER
Carotene, beta	mcg	29	215	1688
Carotene, alpha	mcg	2	3	0
Cryptoxanthin, beta	mcg	2	0	0
Lutein + zeaxanthin	mcg	0	199	3659

Toxins in Sprouts

Some legumes can contain toxins, which can be reduced by soaking, sprouting and cooking (e.g., stir frying). Joy Larkcom advises that to be on the safe side “one shouldn’t eat large quantities of raw legume sprouts on a regular basis, no more than about 550g (20oz) daily”.

Buckwheat greens contain fagopyrin, a naturally occurring substance in the buckwheat plant. When ingested in sufficient quantity, fagopyrin is known to cause the skin of animals and people to become phototoxic, which is to say hypersensitive to sunlight, particularly if juiced or eaten in large quantities.