Comments by Jasperjay
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    Are broccoli seeds in my smoothie as effective as sprouts

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      Dr. Jed Fahey clarifies in his frequently asked questions on the Chemoprotection Center website that broccoli seeds, despite having very high glucoraphanin and myrosinase content on a per gram basis, contains certain anti-nutrients… the effect of ingesting a lot of may not really be well understood yet.

      Here’s the notable section from the FAQ…

      Q: Can I eat whole broccoli seeds?

      A: We are less prepared to answer this question because there may be complicating factors and because little research has been done to address this question. Certainly eating various types of seeds is practice that has been common to humanity since early in evolution when we were hunter-gatherers. Broccoli seeds are bitter if eaten raw, and they taste nutty and pleasant if lightly baked first. Since broccoli seeds – or sprouts for that matter – were never consumed prior to our discovery published in 1997, we do not know how much is too much. Broccoli seeds are loaded with GR (and with myrosinase, but that gets inactivated when you bake or cook the seeds). They also have other oils and indoles and compounds that could be anti-nutritional and undesirable if eaten in large quantities.

      For now, it may be prudent to stick to sprouting since, as a result of the sprouting process, these anti-nutrients are used up during the sprouting process. It’s also a form a rich source of sulforaphane that’s been more studied.

      Here’s the longer interview with Dr. Jed Fahey for those that haven’t seen it. A great deep-dive on sulforaphane and other isothiocyanates…

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        I’ve wondered this too, and seen the information from Dr. Fahey as well. From what I understand, soaking the seeds can activate enzymes that break down some antinutrients in a similar way as sprouting can. So I wonder if the same effect could be achieved by making the smoothie the night before, in effect “soaking” the seeds in whatever liquids are in the rest of the smoothie… I would be interested to know which antinutrients are in and/or specific to broccoli seeds, and whether soaking them could have similar benefits to sprouting them. This is really just a matter of time and convenience to me personally, but also curiosity.