Vegetables: Cooked or Raw?
The idea that cooked vegetables have more nutrients than raw vegetables leads some people to question things. If we take raw vegetables to the lab and break them down into their components, we find they have more vitamins in them than cooked vegetables. This is something we have known for years. But how we break them down in the lab to separate them is not how human beings break down vegetables.
The key is that humans lost the enzyme to break down cellulose and the nutrients for most vegetables are locked in the cellulose. Cows have this enzyme, which is why they can graze on grass and get fat, but humans cannot. Yes, I know some people eat wheat grass but that just tastes awful.
This phenomenon was first noted with artichokes in 1963. But that experiment has been repeated with multiple vegetables like Squash. Then some bright people decided to take patients who had an ileostomy and check how they did with their carrots.
Then you hear how some people will say, if we over cook it we will cook out the nutrients. Turns out that was tried too and more vitamins were available when cooked.
The key is not that one should cook vegetables, but that any way you want to eat vegetables is ok, and we should eat more of them. In fact, we should eat the equivalent of about 9 ounces of raw vegetables a day (but if you want to cook those raw vegetables you still get credit for them).
So don’t worry about how you like your vegetables – just have more of them.
I like most of my vegetables baked with spices.
Footnotes:
(COOK BB, SUNDARAM S. Nutrients in raw vs. cooked globe artichokes. J Am Diet Assoc. 1963 Mar;42:231-3. PMID: 14022763.)
Zaccari F, Galietta G. α-Carotene and β-Carotene Content in Raw and Cooked Pulp of Three Mature Stage Winter Squash “Type Butternut”. Foods. 2015 Sep 18;4(3):477-486. doi: 10.3390/foods4030477. PMID: 28231218; PMCID: PMC5224544.
Livny O, Reifen R, Levy I, Madar Z, Faulks R, Southon S, Schwartz B. Beta-carotene bioavailability from differently processed carrot meals in human ileostomy volunteers. Eur J Nutr. 2003 Dec;42(6):338-45. doi: 10.1007/s00394-003-0430-6. PMID: 14673607.
Nartea A, Fanesi B, Falcone PM, Pacetti D, Frega NG, Lucci P. Impact of Mild Oven Cooking Treatments on Carotenoids and Tocopherols
of Cheddar and Depurple Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis). Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jan 29;10(2):196. doi: 10.3390/antiox10020196. PMID: 33572861; PMCID: PMC7911714.