Are sprouted seeds considered healthy

Bean sprouts are baby bean plants.

Bean sprouts have been used for centuries for their nutritional and medical benefits. Chinese physicians prescribed sprouts over 5,000 years ago. Bean sprouts have continued to be a staple in Asian cuisine. Although accounts of sprouting appear in The Bible in the Book of Daniel, it took centuries for Europeans and Americans to fully appreciate bean sprouts. In the 1700?s, sailors suffered from scurvy (lack of vitamin C) during their voyages. In the 1770s, Captain James Cook had his sailors eat limes, lemons, and sprouts; all abundant sources of vitamin C. Along with other fresh fruits and vegetables, a continuous program of growing and eating sprouts was credited with preventing scurvy in sailors. During World War II, Dr. Clive McKay of Cornell University sparked American interest in sprouts. Dr. McKay had spent years researching sprouted soybeans. He wrote an article that touted soybean sprouts as "A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in Vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel