Today's Topic: Cooked Carrots More Nutritious

Most of us know that fresh fruits and vegetables are better for us
than cooked.  Well, that is not exactly correct.  It has been known
for some time that cooking, especially in the presence of a small
amount of fat, actually makes some antioxidants more available for
absorption.

A study in the August 2000 edition of the Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry reports that cooked, pureed carrots have higher
levels of two antioxidants: beta-carotene and phenolic acids.  The
antioxidants increase with heating by a third, with inclusion of the
peel and increased during storage at high temperature for up to a
week.  After that they declined, but never to the levels for raw
carrots.
<A
HREF="http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/jafcau/jtext.cgi?jafcau/48/i04/a
bs/jf9910178.html">http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/jafcau/jtext.cgi?ja
fcau/48/i04/abs/jf9910178.html</A>
.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Much general wisdom
about nutrition is not only not supported by facts, it is sometimes
opposite of what is generally accepted.  Cooking probably breaks the
plant cells open so antioxidants and other plant chemicals can be
better absorbed.  Adding fat allows carotenoids to be absorbed much
better.  Cooking and added fat also increase absorption of lycopene
from tomatoes, a carotenoid structurally related to beta-carotene.
[from NNF]