Anti-Cancer Foods: Microgreens, Baby Green Warriors

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anti-cancer microgreensHave you added microgreens to your anti-cancer foods list?

They’re not cheap, but ounce for ounce, these tiny first leaves of edible seedlings boast lots more nutrients than their mature counterparts.  And the best part :

They’re delicious raw. In the case of cruciferous plants, that’s a big bonus because the enzymes that produce certain cancer-fighting compounds are destroyed with too much heat (although maybe not totally destroyed, if you just use a little heat—and there is evidence that our guts produce some of those enzymes.)

Red cabbage microgreens, mustard, kale (ok, I love the grown-up leaves raw, assuming they’re wilted), rapini and broccoli (can’t stand it raw, can you?)  —These are a few of the many choices of cruciferous microgreens offered by Jardi-Pousses, a microgreenery (Is that a word?) in Ste. Adele, Quebec.

Broccoli? Did I say “broccoli sprouts,” the crucifer that appears to have the highest density of those cancer-fighting compounds?

No, I said “broccoli microgreens.”  What’s the difference?

Microgreens and sprouts are both grown in a short period of time from germinated seeds. Sprouts are germinated in water, usually for a couple of days, and grow roots, stems and underdeveloped leaves. Microgreens are germinated in soil –first for a few days in the dark, then exposed to light for at least a week. If you were hosting a taste test or beauty pageant in your anti-cancer kitchen, broccoli microgreens would beat out sprouts, cotyledons down.

More than 15 years ago, Dr. Paul Talalay, a Johns Hopkins scientist, discovered to his surprise that  three- day- old broccoli sprouts contained 10 to 100 times more of those cancer-fighting compounds than the corresponding mature broccoli. He built a business based on his findings—putting broccoli sprouts on the shelves of large grocery stores across the US.

So is there a difference between the nutritional value of microgreens and sprouts? Nobody’s yet done that comparative research.

We do know that the density of certain vitamins in those baby microgreens is much greater than in their adult forms . We also know that the anti-oxidant content of sprouted seeds, beans and grains is greater than in unsprouted specimens.

So maybe it’s all just down to the seed—which Talalay says contains those high concentrations—-and maybe it doesn’t matter whether you germinate that seed in water or soil. What do you science folks out there think?

In any case, I’m hooked —and not waiting on the studies. (I won’t go overboard, however–4 cups of broccoli sprouts a day could be worrisome.) 

Broccoli microgreens are now germinating near my anti-cancer kitchen, thanks to a lesson from Denise Richer at Jardi-Pousses, who’s been growing her own for more than a decade.  If you live in or near Montreal, you can find their vibrant plants at the market in Val David, Quebec on Saturdays (through end of September) or in Montreal at Fruiterie Roger, 1832 Laurier East, near Papineau, where it’s fresh on the shelves every Monday morning.

If you live elsewhere and know of a good grower, please share by commenting below.  

Of course, you could always beef up your own anti-cancer kitchen by picking up this helpful book and growing your own baby greens. 

17 thoughts on “Anti-Cancer Foods: Microgreens, Baby Green Warriors”

  1. They are so easy to grow. Just sprinkle some seeds in good quality organic soil, water them regularly and within a week or so you can munch on the sprouts. I keep adding new seeds every few weeks and enjoy both the baby greens and the more mature greens.

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  2. My husband and I are a certified producer of sprouts and microgreens. We purchase certified organic seed and soil and beans and grains.
    We bring live trays of microgreens to farmers markets, cut them fresh and sell by the ounce. price depending on variety, reasonable prices. We do broccoli, brown & yellow mustard, cabbage, onion, fenugreek, chia, buckwheat, mung bean, flax and amaranth microgreens. We sprout lentils, mung bean, chick peas, adzuki, radish seeds, green and dunn pea, purple and brown barley

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  3. spelt, hard red wheat, kamut.
    per request we also can provide sprouted pet mixes of beans,seeds and grains as well as pet mixes of microgreens that provide all of the same great health benefits for your best pet friends including birds, cats, dogs, reptiles and bunnies .

    if you would like info. on our California market locations pls. email us at visionsproutsandmicrogreens@gmail.com
    we are so happy to have discovered these healing
    little super foods and even more excited to bring them to our local farmers markets.

    little super foods

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  6. Rooted Farm in Oklahoma City grows and sells a wide variety of micro greens including broccoli. Find us at the osu okc farmers market, the old public market, or the Edmond farmers market. You can also purchase through our buyers club at rootedfarm.com.

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  8. The biggest difference between sprouts and microgreens is that microgreens have a significantly smaller risk of causing food borne illness due to them being exposed to UV light. Tons of benefits, virtually no risk (risk is equal to mature leafy greens like spinach and kale).
    I own Lilybel Microgreens in Chicago. USDA certified organic. Contact us for all your microgreen needs!

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  12. Photosynthesis is a key that unlocks and transforms a sprout into a microgreen. That dark green baby plant is chauk full of all the vitamins and minerals that express themselves as a mature plant but in much higher density and in a super easy to digest form (not bound in fiber). I use farmeryou.com soilless kits for indoor growing in a window.

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