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Comments from Don Kasarda, Albany, CA

Almost all plants have some toxic components in them, some more than others.
In general, wheat is a good food with low levels of toxic components (except
for celiac patients, of course) and wheat protein is highly utilized in
animal feeding studies, but most uncooked beans and peas have significant
amounts of protease inhibitors in them, such as trypsin/chymotrypsin
inhibitors.  These inhibitors make it unwise to eat beans and peas raw. They
stop the action of digestive enzymes (specifically, in this case,
proteases), especially those of the pancreas, so the pancreas responds by
making ever more of the enzymes.  This, however, is not a desirable
situation on a constant basis.  So, eating a raw bean or two will probably
not cause any harm--they are not going to cause systemic poisoning, but I
think it is generally desirable to cook beans and peas of all sorts before
they are eaten.  This tends to inactivate the protease inhibitors.

Sprouting certainly will produce changes in composition, but these can
sometimes be harmful as well as helpful.  Alfalfa sprouts will have saponins
in them (I think more than in alfalfa seeds themselves, although I am not
going to take the time to research this), for example.  A sprinkling of
sprouts on a sandwich on occasion is probably not harmful and the other good
components of the sprouts may be more important than the presence of the bad
components.  Still, I think it probably would not be a good idea to make
something like alfalfa sprouts a major part of the diet (piles of them for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  A varied and balanced diet is best. The body
is generally capable of dealing with the small amounts of toxic components
present in all plant foods, but defenses can be overwhelmed.

The preceding is not medical advice.  It is somewhat educated opinion.  Let
the reader beware.