Cooking and Nutrient Loss

While most animals thrive on diets consisting almost exclusively of raw, uncooked food, few
human cultures have evolved or been sustained without incorporating some aspect of cooked
food into their eating practices. At the World's Healthiest Foods, we encourage inclusion of both
raw and cooked foods into the daily meal plan. We believe there is every reason to make the
most from the nourishment available in both types of food.
The way that food is cooked is absolutely essential for avoiding unnecessary nutrient loss. Five
minutes can make an enormous difference in the nutritional quality of a meal. (This is about the
time it takes to walk away from the stove, answer the phone, and say that you can't talk right
now because you are in the middle of cooking). In addition, every food is unique and should be
treated that way when it comes to cooking temperatures and times. We refuse to simmer spinach
for more than 2-3 minutes. But we know that kale needs to steam for 6-8 minutes. Head over to
our Good Tasting Healthy Recipes to get all the details about each food and the unique cooking
approach it deserves.
The traditional rules about heat, water, time, and nutrient loss are all true. The longer a food is
exposed to heat, the greater the nutrient loss. Being submersed in hot water (boiling) creates
more nutrient loss than steaming (surrounding with steam rather than water) if all other factors
are equal. The lower nutrient loss from steaming is the main reason we recommend it so often in
our recipes. We just can't think of any valid reason to expose a food to high heat and boiling
water for any prolonged period of time, for example, more than twenty minutes. We even get our
butternut squash steamed in that length of time!
With our very precise and short cooking times, you're unlikely to get a nutrient loss of more than
30% with most nutrients. In general, you're likely to get nutrient losses in the 5-15% range. This
range is dramatically lower than the losses than occur in food processing, or in many cafeterias
and restaurants where food is routinely overcooked (in Table 1, you will find a presentation of
research results that have looked at how various cooking and preparation methods may impact
nutrient loss from select foods). Processed foods often have nutrient losses in the 50-80% range -
as much as ten times the amount that occurs with the World's Healthiest Cooking. The 5-15%
nutrient loss that occurs with careful, minimized heat and water exposure is often a worthwhile
loss, because it is accompanied by other changes in the food that can support out health. These
other changes include improved digestibility, and the conversion of nutrients into forms that are
more easily absorbed.
Table 1
Food Nutrient Method
% Nutrient
Loss
broccoli vitamin C blanch 47%
carrots folate boiling 79%
carrots beta-carotene canning 27%
cauliflower folate boiling 69%
grapefruit juice folate canning <5%
milk vitamin B12 boiling (2-5 minutes) 30%
mixed
vegetables
vitamin C blanching (3-5 minutes) 25%
mixed
vegetables
vitamin C boiling (10-20 minutes) 55%
mixed
vegetables
vitamin C canning 67%
mixed
vegetables
pantothenic
acid
canning 20-35%
mixed
vegetables
vitamin B6 canning 40-60%
navy beans calcium cooking 49%
navy beans copper cooking 59%
navy beans iron cooking 51%
navy beans magnesium cooking 65%
navy beans manganese cooking 60%
navy beans phosphorus cooking 65%
navy beans potassium cooking 64%
navy beans selenium cooking 50%
navy beans zinc cooking 50%
onions flavonoids boiling 30%
peanuts lysine
cooking at 150F (90
minutes)
20%
peanuts lysine
cooking at 150F (150
minutes)
40%
soybeans thiamin boiled 48-77%
spinach calcium blanching 0%
spinach flavonoids boiling 50%
spinach magnesium blanching 36%
spinach phosphorus blanching 36%
spinach potassium blanching 56%
tomato juice folate canning 70%