Do cooked vegetables really have less nutritional value?

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lenapb
lenapb Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've heard/read this is various places but I wanted to get a better idea of the actual facts. Recently, I've really been into making soups at home that last for a few days and I put some type of meat and a ton of veggies into them. When I want something more substantial but I'm feeling lazy I'll just add frozen vegetables into a bowl before I reheat it. in any case, I'd say the majority of my veggie intake comes from soups and I'm wondering if that really makes a significant difference nutritionally. I'm all for fresh veggies and salads and all that but it's winter, and I'm cold, and a gigantic bowl of soup has really been hitting the spot. Thoughts?

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    My understanding is that the concern is if you cook vegetables in liquid and drain them, some of the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) leach out into the cooking water and get poured down the drain. Presumably you drink the broth of your soup, so I don't think there's a problem. (And if you cook veggies in water and drain them, you can save the liquid - aka "pot liquor" - and drink it like you would V-8 or cook your rice in it, or use it in place of water or broth/stock when you make soup.) (Or just eat lots of veggies and don't worry if you lose a few vitamins and minerals in the water.)
  • mysticode
    mysticode Posts: 3 Member
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    As Lynn said, it's just basic physics. The water makes the veggies softer as per breaking them down, and some nutrients go into the liquid.
  • Ledgehanger
    Ledgehanger Posts: 125 Member
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    I've heard/read this is various places but I wanted to get a better idea of the actual facts. Recently, I've really been into making soups at home that last for a few days and I put some type of meat and a ton of veggies into them. When I want something more substantial but I'm feeling lazy I'll just add frozen vegetables into a bowl before I reheat it. in any case, I'd say the majority of my veggie intake comes from soups and I'm wondering if that really makes a significant difference nutritionally. I'm all for fresh veggies and salads and all that but it's winter, and I'm cold, and a gigantic bowl of soup has really been hitting the spot. Thoughts?
    Enjoy your soup! :happy:

    I agree with Lynn. If there is any nutrition loss, it is almost certainly minimal compared to the overall nutritional value of the veggies to begin with. If you are putting "a ton of veggies" into your soup, you're going to get a ton of nutritional value in return.

    As Lynn said, the only significant nutritional loss in cooking veggies seems to come from the "runoff" in the liquid that is drained. In a soup that shouldn't be a problem.
  • mteague277
    mteague277 Posts: 145 Member
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    Healthy soups with lots of veggies are typically very nutrient dense. I wouldn't worry too much :)
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    Each vegetable reacts differently to being cooked. Some lose a small amount of nutrients, while others actually benefit from being cooked (eg carrots and spinach) as they become easier for the bodies to absorb.

    Some of the concerns with cooking vegetables is when you boil them as people would see the color leaching into the cooking water and worry that they were losing precious minerals from their vegetables, but that's certainly not a concern if you are cooking them in the soup. Don't worry though, if you are eating your daily allowance of veg you are all good!

    Here's a link for another opinion:
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/raw-veggies-are-healthier/
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    File this under things not to worry too much about
  • TEMMEAlexa
    TEMMEAlexa Posts: 79 Member
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    Cooking does reduce the nutritional value, but we won't be able to digest what we eat if it is all raw food. Consider eating raw potato, etc. So, when we cook some food, it does reduce the nutritional value, but makes the food soft for digestion. You won't want all that raw energy wasted in chewing or digestion only.
  • Lylaathome
    Lylaathome Posts: 15 Member
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    Another thing to consider is that in certain vegetables the fiber that is so beneficial to weigh lose is broke down when cooked. If you have heard of the glycemic index, cooked vegetable are higher on the index than the raw ones. The higher the glycemic index number the quicker the food breaks down in your blood stream and becomes glucose affecting your insulin levels and can cause the Sugar Crash that many people have experienced.
    Foods having an increased GI tend to be soaked up rapidly into the bloodstream and spark a fast increase in blood sugar levels. Foods with a GI over 70 are flooders. These foods tend to cause rapid increases in blood sugar.
    According to the Glycemic Research Institute, (which does a great deal of research on the index,) high Glycemic carbohydrates store in the fat cells.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5865278

    My understanding, the less cooked the better. There are some vegetable that I don't like raw too often, so I flash cook them. Maybe just a quick stir-fry or only 30 seconds in the microwave, so they are still pretty crisp, but not raw and bitter.

    P.S. I really love soup too in the winter, but I like to still keep my veggies crispy so I prepare them before I add them to the broth.
    The vegetables that you most want to watch would be heavy sugar vegetables (root veggies) and Broccoli and Cauliflower.



    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5865278
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
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    My understanding is that some vitamins are not heat-stabile, i.e., they are destroyed by the heat itself if they are cooked more than lightly:
    http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-cooked/raw-cooked-2e.shtml
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
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    I've heard of people reusing the water to make broth because it contains so many of the leached nutrients and is much healthier than store bought broth.

    Since you're not boiling your veggies, then taking them out, but eating the soup as a whole, including the now nutrient rich broth, you're probably still getting everything you would have had you eaten the veggies raw.
  • rllewell
    rllewell Posts: 234
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    When food is steamed or made into a soup, the temperature is fixed at 100 degrees Celsius or 212 Fahrenheit — the temperature of boiling water. This moisture-based cooking prevents food from browning and forming toxic compounds. Most essential nutrients in vegetables are made more absorbable after being cooked in a soup and water-soluble nutrients are not lost because we eat the liquid portion of the soup too.

    Soups and steaming is great, we lightly broil veggies too. I love soup in the winter months!
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
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    That works for fresh or frozen vegetables, but canning is done under pressure, so the temperature exceeds 100C or 212F. People who eat only canned vegetables may be deficient in folic acid (ie., people in prisons or homeless shelters).
  • rllewell
    rllewell Posts: 234
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    That works for fresh or frozen vegetables, but canning is done under pressure, so the temperature exceeds 100C or 212F. People who eat only canned vegetables may be deficient in folic acid (ie., people in prisons or homeless shelters).

    Agree, very little coming out of a can has a good nutritional value.

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