Sprouts have toxins says Dr. Vetrano

[maydaye]

Hi everyone,

I love to eat and grow my sunflower, buckwheat and pea greens. I grow them in an inch of soil indoors and I can get a lot of produce that way. However, I just came across a disturbing interview with Dr. Vivian Vetrano in Paul Nison's book Raw Knowledge and here is the excerpt. I need everyone's opinion about this one because I certainly do not want to stop eating my green sprouts.

Excerpt:
I wonder if you can shed some light on this part of Paul Nison's book: Raw knowledge. In it he interviews various raw food experts. Dr. Vetrano had this to say, here is the excerpt:

nals. Most sprouts do not taste good,and I could not sit down
and make an entire meal of them if I tried,even if I added a
dressing or dates to mask the flavor. In contrast,I can easily
make an entire meal of one type of fruit and feel like I had ban-
queted on the most delicious epicurean meal in the world.
The toxic matter in sprouts varies and differs at different
stages of growth. When plants feel endangered,the toxins are
increased to prevent insects and animals from eating them be-
fore they have had a chance to reproduce. For instance,if you
pick off only one or two leaves of lettuce,rather than taking
the entire plant,the next time you return for more leaves,they
will all be too bitter to eat. Plucking the leaves alerts the plant
- it feels threatened and endangered. It secretes poison into
each leaf to protect itself. There is a tree in Africa which gi-
raffes frequently feed upon,and it only tolerates the giraffe
eating it for about thirty minutes. If the giraffe does not quit
eating on that tree before thirty minutes,one more bite is
toxic enough to make it very sick or even kill it.
I have always contended that sprouts are toxic,and if you
want them,no more than a small amount or garnish should be
eaten. Many people have been sickened by eating or drinking
juices made from sprouts. If you continue drinking juices
containing an abundance of sprouts for long,you are in dan-
ger of developing arthritis or any other serious condition to
which you have an inborn tendency.
The toxins in sprouts,as I said before,create an emer-
gency in the body. It senses the unfitness of the poisonous
substances all over the system. The entire system has to go to
work to get rid of them. It’s like having to put out a fire.
These toxins cause urgent physiological activity that waste
our nerve energy and damage cells. The individual who eats
the sprouts becomes hyper and has a false sense of being en-
ergetic and really healthy,but this is the same as getting a caf-
feine kick or the kick of salt or getting “high”from any other

stimulant. The differences between one stimulant and an-
other vary according to how much you eat or drink and how
toxic the substance is. Therefore,sprouting is not the answer
when it comes to grains and legumes.
Dr. Vivian Virginia Vetrano

[RawSar]

Interesting...
I know that this has been mentioned before here.
We use to juice a lot of different sprouts but don't anymore because of this.
Now only sprinkle of little bit onto our salads for dinner.

Thanks for sharing

[Moretta]

Very interesting.

Thanks for sharing this information.

[spicyfull]

So he just expressed his opinion and everyone has one. If you listened to what everyone said, I'm sure you would not be RAW because plenty of Drs. say that's toxic. I would Always listen to My Body and FLY. The life you had before RAW was Deadly toxic. So you be the Judge and keep RAWkin.

[HolyGuacamole]

Well, yeah, here's what I read:
"I don't like sprouts and so I have invented this justification for not eating them - with zero basis in fact."

Meanwhile, I would not choose to eat a bunch of bananas but I eat a HUGE sprout salad every day of my life and I feel GREAT.
I'm not going to write a bunch of hooey explaining why bananas are bad, they must contain a toxin because I don't like them, and sprouts are what everyone else should like and eat, though.

By the way, I pick one or two leaves from my (live, growing) greens all the time and this idea that it somehow makes them bitter is absurd.

You know, if it resonates for you, then great.
Let's just say it doesn't resonate for me.

[JCB44]

Bravo HolyGuac well said

[Bookish Lass]

Don't all greens have some toxins in them? That's why people say you should switch your greens around. Wouldn't sprouts just need to be switched too?

Here's one article about the toxins in sprouts:
http://www.sproutpeople.com/Political/vegejournal.html

[somelikeitraw]

Well, yeah, here's what I read:
"I don't like sprouts and so I have invented this justification for not eating them - with zero basis in fact."

Meanwhile, I would not choose to eat a bunch of bananas but I eat a HUGE sprout salad every day of my life and I feel GREAT.
I'm not going to write a bunch of hooey explaining why bananas are bad, they must contain a toxin because I don't like them, and sprouts are what everyone else should like and eat, though.

By the way, I pick one or two leaves from my (live, growing) greens all the time and this idea that it somehow makes them bitter is absurd.

You know, if it resonates for you, then great.
Let's just say it doesn't resonate for me.

Well stated HolyGuacamole! (BTW Love your signature line )
It doesn't resonate with me either.

[The French One]

I DO NOT SEE ANY SCIENTIFIC FACTS in this Dr. Vetrano's opinion. Give me a worthy study result and maybe I'll start to worry about sprouts. Since then, I'll consider this as scientific as people saying that you need to drink milk to get calcium...

[tanishamarshall]

I have heard about them being toxic as well. I would just eat small amounts and switch up my veggies as we should anyway.