Veggies Best Cooked
Posted on 12.14.09 by What Keeps You Healthy
Here are some vegetables that have better nutritional benefits after being cooked, rather than raw, according to studies reported in Prevention:
Broccoli: steam
Raw: Broccoli is high in potential cancer-fighting nutrients such as betacarotene, lutein, and flavonols.
Steamed: Broccoli has higher concentrations of many carotenoids than raw. Plus, it retains nearly 70 percent of its vitamin C and virtually all of its kaempferol, a cell-saving flavonoid.
Carrots: Boil until tender
Raw: Carrots are a good source of vitamin C and carotenoids, a family of antioxidants that includes beta-carotene. These contribute to good eye health and may also reduce your risk of heart attack and some forms of cancer.
Cooked: Boiling makes the carotenoids 14 percent more concentrated. Dietary fiber in the cell walls of carrots traps the carotenoids, but high heat releases and concentrates the compounds, making it easier for your digestive tract to access them. Boiling increases carrots’ total antioxidant capacity (their ability to attack free radicals) while only slightly diminishing vitamin C levels.
Garlic: roast cloves for no more than 3 minutes
Raw: Garlic contains alliinase, an enzyme with antiplatelet properties that may help reduce blood pressure and prevent blood from clotting, which decreases your risk of heart disease.
Cooked: Roasting garlic cloves (for up to 3 minutes at no more than 390°F) helps retain nearly all of their anti-platelet capabilities—with less smell. Turn off the heat after 3 minutes—by 6 minutes, garlic loses about 80 percent of its clot-busting abilities; by 10 minutes, 100 percent.
Root Vegetables: roast with skins on
Raw: Winter veggies such as potatoes, turnips, and parsnips are high in fiber and vitamins, but many are not commonly eaten raw.
Cooked: Roasting with skins intact helps retain all the nutrients. If you prefer boiling, leave the skins on (peel them after cooling, if necessary), and boil them in large chunks (preferably whole) to preserve the veggies’ water soluble nutrients.
Brussels sprouts: steam or stir-fry
Raw: Brussels sprouts contain sulforaphane, a powerful phytochemical that helps protect against breast cancer.
Cooked: Steaming or stir-frying as quickly as possible preserves more of the cancer-fighting compounds. Boiling Brussels sprouts causes sulforaphane to leach into the water.
Tomatoes: roast with olive oil
Raw: Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a carotenoid that gives this fruit its red hue. Lycopene is also a powerful antioxidant that can reduce the risk of certain cancers and heart disease.
Cooked: Roasting tomatoes causes cell walls to burst, releasing more lycopene.
Asparagus: steam vertically
Raw: One cup of asparagus contains nearly 20 percent of the recommended daily intake of folate, a B vitamin that helps protect your cardiovascular and nervous systems. Recent studies link a diet high in folate with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s, stroke, and heart disease. Since folate is water soluble and sensitive to heat, cooking can diminish it.
Cooked: Steaming gently in a vertical steamer keeps the fragile tips—which contain most of the water-soluble nutrients—away from the liquid. This imparts more flavor while retaining all the benefits of raw.
Beets: steam gently
Raw: Beets are high in betanin, a powerful plant pigment and antioxidant that can halt free-radical damage and may even stop the growth of tumor cells in the stomach, colon, lungs, and nervous system.
Cooked: Lightly steam beets to retain more cancer-fighting powers. Betanin is highly sensitive to heat, so intense cooking methods like boiling or roasting destroy the benefits.
Onions: bake for 5 minutes in foil
Raw: Onions are one of the best sources of quercetin, a flavonoid with anti-inflammatory powers that may help control allergies and asthma, as well as help treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Cooked: Baking thick chunks wrapped in foil for 5 minutes at 390°F preserves 99.5 percent of the quercetin compounds while diminishing the bite and smell.
Try and work in some of these veggies next time you decide to whip up a salad.
