drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
Do you prefer steam, boil or fry your food? 
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It is commonly known that the nutrient content of food changes with different cooking methods. Regardless of this fact, the majority of our vegetables are being cooked before we eat them.
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One study we have looked in to studies the effects of domestic cooking methods on nutrient and health promoting compounds of Broccoli. It found that steaming was the most beneficial cooking method for preserving the nutrients and that stir-frying/ boiling was the worst. Vitamin C, an important nutrient in broccoli was shown to decrease substantially with microwaving, boiling and stir- frying but not with steaming (1).
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Another paper studied the effects of cooking (boiling) on vitamin C preservation in pepper, green peas, spinach, pumpkin and carrot. The take home message is that it is better to cook vegetables in low amounts of water and for as short a time as possible, at least if you want to preserve vitamin C (2).
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These findings are in line with the bulk of the studies on the effects of heating on nutritional preservation in foods. One example of this is the review article by Rumm – Kreuter who found that vitamin C is particularly vulnerable to heating and that steaming has a lesser impact than for example boiling.
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There have been some conflicting results regarding effect of nutrient preservation in regards to microwaving. Regardless of that, this cooking method seems to be better than boiling but worse than steaming
.It is commonly known that the nutrient content of food changes with different cooking methods. Regardless of this fact, the majority of our vegetables are being cooked before we eat them.
.
One study we have looked in to studies the effects of domestic cooking methods on nutrient and health promoting compounds of Broccoli. It found that steaming was the most beneficial cooking method for preserving the nutrients and that stir-frying/ boiling was the worst. Vitamin C, an important nutrient in broccoli was shown to decrease substantially with microwaving, boiling and stir- frying but not with steaming (1).
.
Another paper studied the effects of cooking (boiling) on vitamin C preservation in pepper, green peas, spinach, pumpkin and carrot. The take home message is that it is better to cook vegetables in low amounts of water and for as short a time as possible, at least if you want to preserve vitamin C (2).
.
These findings are in line with the bulk of the studies on the effects of heating on nutritional preservation in foods. One example of this is the review article by Rumm – Kreuter who found that vitamin C is particularly vulnerable to heating and that steaming has a lesser impact than for example boiling.
.
There have been some conflicting results regarding effect of nutrient preservation in regards to microwaving. Regardless of that, this cooking method seems to be better than boiling but worse than steaming
