Cooking methods do matter. Well, as it turned out, the good stuff (like vitamins and minerals) in food is not an inherent characteristic of the food. Rather, it varies depending on how the food is prepared. In fact, a body of experimental research gives us insight on what may be the best ways to cook our food. The research in 2009, Yuan et al, published a study about the effects of steaming, microwaving, boiling, stir frying and then boiling upon the health promoting components ion broccoli. They found that all of these cooking treatments, except steaming, significantly reduced the amount of chlorophyll, vitamin C, and soluble proteins and soluble sugars in the broccoli compared to the raw samples. The carotenoids (like beta-carotene) in broccoli did not appreciably decrease after steaming, microwaving or stir frying.
Part of this result is due to the nature of the nutrients examined. For example, vitamin C had greatest losses due to the cooking treatments probably for two reasons; 1) It is not very heat stable (high heat causes its degradation); 2) it is water-soluble - so during cooking vitamin C can leach into the cooking water. This second scenario is also seen with other water-soluble vitamins like B-vitamins. And these results are corroborated by several other studies. Vitamin losses do not only occur when cooking vegetables; meat is affected too. Ortigues-Marty et al, found significant vitamin B12 losses from various cuts of beef exposed to grilling, pan frying, deep frying, roasting, and braising. Roasting fared the best of these methods, likely because of the dry heat involved and therefore less opportunity for vitamin leaching into cooking water. With fish, Nishioka et al, found significant B12 losses for grilling, boiling, frying, and microwaving, but no losses from sous vide (vacuum-packed) cooking, and only small losses from steaming.
The result of these studies is important since the primary dietary sources of vitamin B12 are animal products. These studies suggest that roasting or steaming will leave you more good stuff in your meat.If you do decide to go for the fryer, here's some good news. A review on nutrient losses and gains during frying by Fillion and Henry makes the case that frying isn't all that bad. They found that since frying employs a quick duration of cooking and the internal temperature does not exceed 100 degrees Celsius there is good nutrient retention. In fact, while there are some losses of polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant vitamins, this review found those losses to be comparable or even lesser than with boiling or baking. Part of this retention is due to the fat and not water that this method uses resulting in minimal leaching of the water soluble vitamins. These researchers even promote the potential benefits by suggesting that frying in vegetable oils is a good way to increase vitamin E content of foods.
And finally, what we have all been waiting for - actual science that supports our fried food habits. Now before you order more onion rings, allow us to make a couple of points about this review. It must be mentioned that the reviewers write with the exuberance of fried food lovers that makes us a bit guarded in accepting their advice that, €fried foods certainly have a place in our lives.€ Additionally, there is no comparison to other methods like stir frying or steaming - making a thorough evaluation of this method difficult. So given the problem of obesity and associated health conditions, we would be very hesitant to promote consumption of fried foods. And we try to limit our children's intake so that they don't get hooked on the fried deliciousness.
Part of this result is due to the nature of the nutrients examined. For example, vitamin C had greatest losses due to the cooking treatments probably for two reasons; 1) It is not very heat stable (high heat causes its degradation); 2) it is water-soluble - so during cooking vitamin C can leach into the cooking water. This second scenario is also seen with other water-soluble vitamins like B-vitamins. And these results are corroborated by several other studies. Vitamin losses do not only occur when cooking vegetables; meat is affected too. Ortigues-Marty et al, found significant vitamin B12 losses from various cuts of beef exposed to grilling, pan frying, deep frying, roasting, and braising. Roasting fared the best of these methods, likely because of the dry heat involved and therefore less opportunity for vitamin leaching into cooking water. With fish, Nishioka et al, found significant B12 losses for grilling, boiling, frying, and microwaving, but no losses from sous vide (vacuum-packed) cooking, and only small losses from steaming.
The result of these studies is important since the primary dietary sources of vitamin B12 are animal products. These studies suggest that roasting or steaming will leave you more good stuff in your meat.If you do decide to go for the fryer, here's some good news. A review on nutrient losses and gains during frying by Fillion and Henry makes the case that frying isn't all that bad. They found that since frying employs a quick duration of cooking and the internal temperature does not exceed 100 degrees Celsius there is good nutrient retention. In fact, while there are some losses of polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant vitamins, this review found those losses to be comparable or even lesser than with boiling or baking. Part of this retention is due to the fat and not water that this method uses resulting in minimal leaching of the water soluble vitamins. These researchers even promote the potential benefits by suggesting that frying in vegetable oils is a good way to increase vitamin E content of foods.
And finally, what we have all been waiting for - actual science that supports our fried food habits. Now before you order more onion rings, allow us to make a couple of points about this review. It must be mentioned that the reviewers write with the exuberance of fried food lovers that makes us a bit guarded in accepting their advice that, €fried foods certainly have a place in our lives.€ Additionally, there is no comparison to other methods like stir frying or steaming - making a thorough evaluation of this method difficult. So given the problem of obesity and associated health conditions, we would be very hesitant to promote consumption of fried foods. And we try to limit our children's intake so that they don't get hooked on the fried deliciousness.
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