Delicious One,

I am mad at Matt.  In the comments after Monday’s Get Healthy Holly cereal post, he asked me about sprouted grains.  I duly dove into the research, thinking it would take just a few hours, and now, three days later, I’m still awash in articles.

Actually, I’m not mad; I welcome your questions, and it’s really fun to analyze these studies.  It’s just that there’s very little out there that looks at “sprouted grain cereals,” per se, so you have to go Big Picture and then get reductive.

So!  This post was going to be just a wee response to whether or not Sprouted Grain cereals are any better for you than, say, the puffed up and highly-processed ones you find at even the best organic stores, but it has turned into an opus on the idea of Sprouted Grains, period.

Those on board with sprouted grains are VERY passionate about them.  I was disinterested, figuring, as long as people are thinking about what they’re eating, they’re not frequenting Mickey D’s.  But there’s SO much hype out there, and so many conflicting opinions about sprouted grains, I reckoned I should do a lot of research.  On the next page, I answer the hype.

Bottom line: sprouted grains are fine, and if you want to spend a lot of money on your food unnecessarily, go for it.  But they’re overly hyped, and they’re not the panacea they’re made out to be, and if you never have a sprouted grain in your life, you’ll be just fine.

Onto the answers:

The Bottom Line:  Would Healthy Holly Eat Sprouted Grains?

Answer: Healthy HollyWould…but I’d rather save my money and eat something that’s equally good for

me (or better) and tastes a heckuvalot better.  Like rice.  Or whole-grain bread.  Or oatmeal.

Homemade Yogurt. Homemade Granola. Too much work? Sprouted grain cereal is an OK choice (and better than sugary commercial granola), but any cooked whole grains (or even whole grain toast) would make just as good a choice. Just add some protein/fat and you're good to go.

Are flourless sprouted grain breads any better for you than other breads?

If you’re comparing a sprouted grain loaf to a loaf of white flour baguette, then yes.

An equation, for the math-minded:  white flour= whole grain minus the bran and endosperm = sugar, in terms of how it acts in the body.

This is not to say that eating that baguette every once in a while will give you diabetes — otherwise the entire French Republic would disappear overnight — but high consumption of white-flour products has been associated with chronic insulin resistance (which can lead to diabetes), inflammation and blood sugar spikes.  I’ll still eat a slice or two of white bread in a restaurant, and I use a bit of white flour (unbleached and organic) in my baking every now and again to keep my breads from becoming too dense and heavy.  Moderation is OK: just make sure you’re getting enough whole grains and/or fiber, and that you’re not eating white flour products all dang day.

But what about flourless sprouted grain breads vs. a high-quality organic whole grain bread?

The whole “flourless” thing is marketing B.S.

“Flour” is not the enemy. For those who need to avoid gluten, there are fine gluten-free flours out there, and many sprouted grain products still include wheat.

If you’re using a high-quality, organic whole grain flour, you’re not removing any of the good stuff, and milling it down simply allows you to cook the grain in a different way.

Your great-grandmother was likely milling her own flour from wheat or spelt or rye kernels, or at least buying whole-grain flours.  White flour, as we said, removes the endosperm and bran.  Whole-grain flours do not.  Here’s what the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has to say:

“Whole grains are composed of germ, bran and endosperm.  In contrast, refined grains lack both the germ and bran, which are removed during processing and results in the loss of fiber, vitamins, minerals, lignans, phenolic compounds, and phytochemicals.  It is this unique constellation of constituents that are thought to confer the beneficial effects of whole grain on chronic disease risk…including reduced insluin resistance and adiposity, a cardioprotective lipid profile, improved endothelial function and oxidative stress, and reduced inflammation.”

–Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1444-5

There are some indications that sprouting of certain cereals (wheat, for example, as opposed to chickpeas, according to one study) does increase certain vitamins.  But vitamin absorption is a complex issue, and we’re talking about miniscule amounts.

As one scientist told me, if you are a malnourished child living in Zimbabwe where protein is scarce and every tiny micronutrient counted, then you might want to pay more attention to sprouting and getting your micronutrients any way you could.

But you’re not.  You’re a Westerner, and you have myriad options, and you’re not going to be malnourished any time soon if you’re paying a modicum of attention to your diet.

So, in this case, if you’re eating a high-quality whole-grain bread, then  NO, there is no indication that sprouted grain breads are significantly better for you.

You would have to eat an incapacitating amount of bread for any real differences to make their mark.  And then you would be too fat to care.

OK, so, cereals: are Sprouted Grain Cereals any better for you than “normal” cereals?

They’re better for you than Cocoa Puffs.  But they’re also incredibly dense, and, according to the research, no better for you than, say oatmeal made from organic, steel-cut oats.

Think of it this way: we’ve been eating grains for a long, long time.  The Romans ate them.  People were eating them thousands of years before that.

Your great-grandmother likely ate “porridge,” which is nothing but cooked whole grains.  If you’ve done any traveling through Asia, where people often still eat traditional foods rather than convenience foods, — foodless foods– then you’ve likely had congee, which is a version of cooked rice porridge.

Whether it’s millet, oatmeal or brown rice, a cooked grain in the morning (especially in the wintertime) is soothing and good for you.  Research indicates that your brain needs some sort of carbohydrate in the morning, whether it’s a banana or whole-grain toast or porridge.  And if you add some protein and good fats — peanut or almond butter, or eggs, or milk — then you’re alert and satiated all morning.

Meanwhile, look at the ingredients of this popular “Whole Grain Flourless Cereal”:

INGREDIENTS: Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat, Organic Malted Barley*, Organic Sprouted Whole Barley, Organic Sprouted Whole Millet, Organic Sprouted Whole Lentils, Organic Sprouted Whole Soybeans, Organic Sprouted Whole Spelt, Filtered Water, Sea Salt.

*note: malted barley is basically barley that has been sprouted and dried.

Nothing “bad” in there.  And because they’re “sprouted,” we think of such things as light fare.

But. Now imagine making a porridge from all of those ingredients — wheat, barley, barley, millet, lentils, soybeans, spelt.

As Lennon/McCartney wrote…so…heavy.

If you’re short on time, don’t mind the dense flavor and just need something quick in the morning, then go ahead and get the sprouted grain cereal over some of the other brands and pour on the yogurt.

But if you’ve got a bit more time — like, 30 seconds — then just reheat some porridge.  Recipes to follow in the next post.

Yo, woman.  One last question, as I’m getting peckish: aren’t sprouted grains better for your because they’re more alive?

Well, they don’t have a pulse, so no.

OK, so some sprouting enthusiasts claim that eating soaked, sprouted “uncooked” grains is better for you because it’ll give you more “living” enzymes and less phytic acid, which those folks have declared as eeeevvviiiilll.

Here’s a link to a post I did about soaking/sprouting nuts that debunks those myths.  In short: phytic acid might actually turn out to be a cancer phyter — I’m so punny today — and the enzymes in your pancreas and es-stomach-o, as we call it here in Miami, can kick the crap out of those sprouted enzymes.

Plus — and here’s where I really love marketing B.S. – the second you cook bread, those “living” enzymes go night-night.  So if someone’s claiming that a “flourless” sprouted grain bread that’s been cooked is more “alive” with nutrition than a normal, then you have my permission to slap them silly.

Tagged as: breakfasts, get healthy holly, healthy eating