> Because of my fairly severe food allergies, my diet is limited (even
> more than just being paleo) and I have to cook several things in order
> to tolerate them. Because of this, I sometimes worry about nutrition.
>
Ditto, plus I have malabsorption issues too. So, paleo or not, I take
hypoallergenic vitamins.
> I know that some vitamins break down or otherwise become useless with
> heat. Is this effect total? In other words, will cooking completely
> destroy some vitamins (such that there is _no_ vitamin of that type
> remaining) or does it just reduce it in terms of amount? Is it the time
> or the heat that determines if it is destroyed? And, which vitamins are
> susceptible?
>
Rachel and Don could probably handle this question best, but I'll give
it a partial shot. C, E, folate, and CoQ10 are all affected by heat. I
don't know if any minerals are affected. As far as I've read, some C is
retained, but I couldn't guess how much. I suppose it depends on how
well the food is cooked. The others--I dunno. One reference I have
says CoQ10 deteriorates at 115 degrees F. and above. The USDA's standard
reference database,
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl
offers values for many foods both cooked and raw. I'm not sure where I
read it, but A is supposedly more bioavailable with cooking. I'm also
not sure, however, if they meant carotenes, which are often misleadingly
labeled as vitamin A, or pure vitamin A (retinol). Interesting also is
that riboflavin is destroyed by light, but not by heat. (You should see
the great time I have cooking and eating my liver in the dark! Just
kidding :-)
Lois
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