Vegetables - should you eat them raw or cooked?

Are vegetables more nutritious raw or cooked? If you are an omnivore, you probably don′t care — you are used to cooked food. Meat eaters may eat raw vegetables in salads, with dips, or possibly juiced. But we eat our meat cooked, and we want the rest of our dinner cooked as well.

Vegetarians are a different story. If you are a firm believer in the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, you probably want to know if cooking enhances or diminishes the nutritional value of food. Of course, raw foodists are already convinced that raw is the way to go. So what is more nutritious, raw or cooked vegetables? It turns out that there is no simple answer to that question.

There are advantages and disadvantages to cooking vegetables (1,2). On one hand, cooking softens food by breaking down plant cell walls, making nutrients more accessible. Cooking also denatures proteins and softens starches, making them more digestible. On the other hand, heating damages some vitamins and phytonutrients, as well as destroying vegetable enzymes. Frying does more damage than steaming or boiling; the higher temperatures can damage unsaturated fats, which in turn uses up antioxidants. So what′s better, raw or cooked? It′s pretty well a toss-up.

Given today′s industrial food production and distribution system, I doubt very much that we can get enough vitamins and minerals from our vegetables, no matter how we eat them. I am convinced that eating vegetables is more important for their effect on macronutrient intake — carbohydrates, proteins, and fats — that for their micronutrient content.

You can always compensate for what you should have gotten from your food but didn′t — vitamins and minerals; you can take supplements. You′ll end up paying twice for your nutrients, first for food and then again for the supplements. But at least you eat right.

It is a good deal more difficult to compensate for what you ate but shouldn′t have — excess calories. The best way to cut back on high-calorie foods is to add more vegetables to your diet. Vegetables are excellent sources of dietary fiber. Soluble fiber gives you a sense of fullness — you′ll likely eat less. They also slow nutrient digestion and absorption. Insoluble fibers help keep you "regular".

The bottom line? Eat your vegetables any way you like them, but eat them! Learning to prepare tasty vegetable side dishes may well be the easiest way to control your waist-line.

But add a quality nutritional supplement to your diet to ensure that you are getting the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients you need.

Sources
  1. Sushma Subramanian. Fact or fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones. Scientific American March 31, 2009.
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  2. Jon Barron. Food – raw versus cooked. Jon Barron′s Alternative Health Newsletter March 16, 2009.
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Posted by Helmut Beierbeck at 4/22/2009 9:37 PM
Categories: vegetables
 

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