Lack of regulatory definitions

Sprout Doubt

Speaking only for ourselves, we've downed sprouted-grain sandwiches or made our way through a sprout-based salad at the behest of a health-conscious friend, relative or significant other. Fine. But we didn't think about it too much. Sprouts. They seem fresh, healthy and so on. Right?

But like pretty much any topic nowadays, there's controversy about sprouts – especially about what makes them healthy.

Sprouted grains are grains that are allowed to begin to grow into the early stages of their plant form through exposure to warmth and water. So far, so good.

The question about their health benefits – basically, the increase in valuable nutrients, such as quality proteins, crude fiber and essential fatty acids, that germination elicits – centers on not only the nutritional value of sprouts, but also how processing may affect those benefits. Some consumers prefer fresh, wet mash of sprouted grains; others believe that processed foods such as cereals and breads made with dried, ground sprouts also provide health benefits.

The Takeaway

This debate itself is fresh enough that it hasn't been served up in the courtroom. Until now.

Consumer Ronnie Elliot filed a case in the Eastern District of New York against Food for Life Baking, accusing the company, which makes Ezekiel 4:9 brand sprouted grain cereals, of misleading customers with its packaging.

The Ezekiel 4:9 box describes sprouts as "living food" and lionizes the nutritional gains provided by using sprouts (rather than conventional grain, presumably) in the product. And there's the rub: Does processed sprout food retain the benefits of fresh sprouts?

"This claim is misleading," the complaint reads, "because by the time the sprouted grain is dried, grounded into flour and heated, any nutritional benefits which may have existed have been extinguished."

Moreover, the suit goes on to point out that Ezekiel's packaging doesn't establish a baseline product against which to measure the improved nutrition.

This case demonstrates the risk associated with health claims, and the importance of being able to substantiate those claims, particularly when there is not a scientific consensus in the relevant field.

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