Science News

The Best Way To Cook your Vegetables

Steaming produces the healthiest cooked vegetables, and microwaving produces the least healthy vegetables, according to Spanish researchers. Cristina Garcia-Viguera and her team looked at how the way in which vegetables were cooked affected the levels of anti-oxidant substances called flavonoids in vegetables like broccoli. Flavonoids are important because they can mop up harmful chemicals called free radicals which, left unchecked, can damage your DNA and cause cancer. The team found that microwaved vegetables lost almost all their healthy antioxidants. The researchers think this is because microwaves produce hotspots inside the food which cause the antioxidants to break down. Boiled vegetables were not much better, losing 80% of their flavonoids by the time they were cooked, with most of the healthy antioxidants leaching out into the water. But steamed vegetables lost only 10% of their flavonoids making steaming the healthiest way to cook your veggies !

26th Oct 2003