Turning beans into bean sprouts is also a major way to eat. In China, bean sprouts have been eaten for thousands of years. As a "variant" of beans, from the point of view of nutrition, the benefit of eating beans first lies in improving the utilization rate of some nutrients in the human body.
Take soybean as an example, the content of protein in soybean is very high, but its nutritional value is limited because it contains trypsin inhibitor. In the process of soybean germination, most of these substances are degraded and destroyed, so the protein utilization rate of soybean sprouts is about 10% higher than that of soybeans. In addition, in the process of soybean germination, more minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc are released due to the action of enzymes, which will also improve the utilization rate of minerals.
The original nutritional components of soybean contain less vitamin C, but its germination process is accompanied by a large accumulation of vitamin C. Under the same heat, the vitamin C of soybean sprouts is more than four times that of soybean. If it is mung bean sprouts, its vitamin C content is more than 30 times that of mung beans. Some people will remove the bean sprouts when they eat them and only eat the beanstalk. In fact, this is a misunderstanding, because most of vitamin C is concentrated in bean sprouts.
In addition to vitamin C, other vitamins in bean sprouts are also higher than those in beans. For example, during the growth of bean sprouts, the content of B vitamins will also increase greatly. Vitamin B2 can be increased by 2 to 4 times, and vitamin B 12 can be increased by about 10 times. In mung bean sprouts, the content of vitamin K will also increase significantly.
Besides nutrients, bean sprouts like its crisp taste. Soybean contains oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose, which is not easily absorbed by human body and will cause side effects such as bloating. However, with the growth of bean sprouts, the content of these oligosaccharides will drop sharply or even disappear.
In addition, bean sprouts are rich in dietary fiber, which can prevent constipation and digestive tract cancer, and can also effectively clean cholesterol and fat in blood vessels. Bean sprouts are rich in acid-resistant substances, which can play an anti-aging role. Riboflavin contained in mung bean sprouts also has a therapeutic effect on oral ulcers.
Bean sprouts sold in the market now are mostly soybean sprouts and mung bean sprouts. In addition to bean sprouts, sprouts of wheat, barley, buckwheat and other cereals are also rich in nutrition. On the basis of improving the taste, these tender bud foods are more nutritious and very suitable for eating.
This work is the original of "Popular Science China-A Brief Introduction to Scientific Principles", please indicate the source for reprinting.