I was just looking around at the www.sproutman.com website (specifically, his article section). He’s got a link to a PDF article explaining that consuming large amounts of buckwheat greens may cause people to become phototoxic, or sensitive to light. The article cites veterinary scientific research that the author, Gilles Arbour, backs up with his and his wife’s own experiences with buckwheat greens.
In spite of the toxicity that buckwheat greens may cause when consumed in great quantities, the article puts forward the conclusion that buckwheat greens consumed in small quantities will not cause a toxicity. The people who usually get sick are those who juice buckwheat greens 3 and 4 times per day.
Update 4-19-2009: My family continues to eat buckwheat microgreens, in rotation with many other sprouted, home-grown, and locally-grown greens. The quantities which we consume are not large enough to cause toxicity, we feel.
Please go to Buckwheat and Skin Sensitivity to read the article by Gilles Arbour.
Buckwheat greens are different than buckwheat flour….right?
Yes, this only has to do with the greens. No problems with the flour.
I forgot to mention before, there is a very little bit about celiacs in NT. They say that if you soak or sprout the grains first some celiacs can tolerate the grains. I have had a couple of people try some baked goods I made using wheat and plain yogurt. You soak the flour in the yogurt overnight at room temperature and bake as usual. It makes the texture more dense, but the people I tried it on didn’t have any reaction to the wheat. I have also heard that raw milk can help celiacs as well.I myself would like to do more baking without wheat. Do you ever bake cakes or breads with bean flour?
Thank again for all the info.
I haven’t done the bean flours yet. I bought some fava-garbanzo bean flour last week but haven’t used it yet. I would like to try sprouting grains and/or soaking flours to see if my Haniya can handle them. Thanks for the suggestion! I have read about it, but appreciate hearing your personal experience.
There are cultures that have used certain sprouts for hundreds or thousands of years. Surely, these are not toxic. Just a thought, but it seems to me one cannot go wrong with those kind of sprouts.
Also seems to me that most things are good in moderation!
I think the key is moderation. The people who were reacting to the buckwheat greens were consuming tons of them. Certainly more than anyone could chew in a day (they were juicing a great quantity of greens). Anyway, I’ve looked around and can’t find anything else that could be toxic. Thanks for your thoughts.
Victoria Boutenko, who pioneered the green smoothie movement, says that all greens have alkaloids in them, which is what gives them bitterness. She says ingesting a large quantities of a specific alkaloid can be toxic, and recommends rotating which greens you are blending (or juicing), regularly.
Recently, people have become concerned about eating alfalfa sprouts, because they have the toxin L-Canavanine. Steve Meyorwitz discusses this in an article on his website.
http://www.sproutman.com/pdf/Natural_Toxins_in_Beans_are_No_Cause_for_Alarm.pdf
Two of his conclusions are: if we are to avoid sprouts because of small levels of toxins, there are a host of other whole foods we should also be avoiding (not to mention processed foods with preservatives); and that sprouts also contain many protectant and detoxifying elements which counteract the toxins.
Jason, thank you for sharing the link regarding alfalfa aprouts. It was very interesting and I appreciated Mr. Meyerowitz’ balanced conclusion! I have become aware (since my last comment here) of criticism against alfalfa sprouts, but I didn’t know some of it came from Dr. Weil.
Sally Fallon of Nourishing Traditions warns against alfalfa sprouts.
I tend to agree with your conclusions, as well as the two writers you cited. Our best protection is diversity and rotation of food in our diets. It doesn’t hurt to be aware of the criticisms, though. My family continues to eat buckwheat microgreens in salads. We have not been concerned about adverse affects because we keep our green diet diverse. Same with alfalfa sprouts, though I have shared with people about the controversy, because I was not sure of recommending them wholeheartedly. It was really good to read the article you shared — I feel as though I can breathe a little easier and not worry whether or not to recommend them.
-Wardeh