Eating nutritious foods can improve your health and energy levels.

令人惊讶的是，方式您烹饪食物对其含有的营养量有重大影响。

This article explores how various cooking methods affect the nutrient content of foods.

烹饪食品可改善消化并增加许多营养的吸收（ 1 , 2 ）。

例如，煮熟的蛋白质蛋is 180% more digestible than that of raw eggs ( 3 ）。

However, some cooking methods reduce several key nutrients.

The following nutrients are often reduced during cooking:

  • 水溶性维生素：vitamin C and the B vitamins — thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), and cobalamin (B12)
  • 脂溶性维生素：vitamins A, D, E, and K
  • minerals:primarily potassium, magnesium, sodium, and calcium
Summary

Although cooking improves digestion and the absorption of many nutrients, it may reduce levels of some vitamins and minerals.

沸腾，煮沸和偷猎是类似的水基烹饪方法。

这些技术因水温而不同：

  • 偷猎：小于180°F（82°C）
  • simmering:185–200°F (85–93°C)
  • 沸腾：212°F (100°C)

Vegetables are generally a great source of vitamin C, but a large amount of it is lost when they’re cooked in water.

In fact, boiling reduces vitamin C content more than any other cooking method.Broccoli, spinach, and lettuce may lose up to 50% or more of their vitamin C when boiled ( 4 ,5）。

因为维生素C是water-solubleand sensitive to heat, it can leach out of vegetables when they’re immersed in hot water.

B维生素同样对热敏感。当肉被煮熟并且其果汁流失时，多达60％的硫胺素，烟酸和其他B族维生素可能会丢失。

However, when the liquid containing these juices is consumed, 100% of the minerals and 70–90% of B vitamins are retained (6）。

另一方面，沸腾的鱼被证明可以保存omega-3脂肪酸content significantly more than frying or microwaving ( 7 ）。

Summary

While water-based cooking methods cause the greatest losses of water-soluble vitamins, they have very little effect on omega-3 fats.

Grilling and烤are similar methods of cooking with dry heat.

烧烤时，热源来自下面，但是当烤时，它来自上方。

Grilling is one of the most popular cooking methods because of the great flavor it gives food.

但是，当营养丰富的果汁从肉中滴入时，在烧烤或烤制期间可能会丢失多达40％的B族维生素和矿物质（6）。

还担心多环芳烃（PAHS），它们是烤肉并滴入热表面时可能引起癌症的物质。

但是，研究人员发现，如果去除滴水并将烟雾降至最低，可以将PAH降低41-89％（ 8 ）。

Summary

烧烤和烤肉可提供良好的风味，但也降低了B族维生素的水平。此外，烧烤会产生潜在的引起癌症的物质。

微波是一种简单，方便的，并且safemethod of cooking.

Short cooking times and reduced exposure to heat preserve the nutrients in microwaved food ( 9 , 10 ）。

实际上，研究发现，微波是保留抗氧化活性的最佳方法garlic和蘑菇（ 11 , 12 ）。

同时，绿色蔬菜中约有20-30％的维生素C在微波时丢失，这比大多数烹饪方法少（5）。

Summary

微波炉is a safe cooking method that preserves most nutrients due to short cooking times.

烘烤和烘烤是指干热烤箱中的食物。

Although these terms are somewhat interchangeable, roasting is typically used for meat while baking is used for bread, muffins, cake, and similar foods.

这种烹饪方法包括维生素C。大多数维生素损失最少。

然而,由于长时间烹饪在高蛋彩画tures, the B vitamins in roasted meat may decline by as much as 40% (6）。

Summary

Roasting or baking does not have a significant effect on most vitamins and minerals, except for B vitamins.

With sautéing and stir-frying, food is cooked in a saucepan over medium to high heat in a small amount ofoilor butter.

这些技术非常相似,但是stir-frying, the food is stirred often, the temperature is higher, and the cooking time is shorter.

In general, this is a healthy way to prepare food.

Cooking for a short time without water prevents the loss of B vitamins, and the addition of fat improves the absorption of plant compounds and antioxidants (6, 13 , 14 ）。

One study found that the absorption ofβ-胡萝卜素炒胡萝卜的6.5倍，是原始胡萝卜（ 15 ）。

在另一项研究中，当人们食用橄榄油炒的西红柿而不是没有含量时，血液番茄红素水平增加了80％（ 16 ）。

另一方面，炒菜已显示可显着减少西兰花和红卷心菜中的维生素C量（5, 17 ）。

Summary

炒和搅拌可以改善脂溶性维生素和某些植物化合物的吸收，但它们减少了蔬菜中维生素C的量。

油炸涉及在高温下以大量脂肪（通常是油）烹饪食物。食物通常涂有面糊或面包屑。

It’s a popular way of preparing food because the skin or coating maintains a seal, which ensures that the inside remains moist and cooks evenly.

用于油炸的脂肪也使食物的味道非常好。

However, not all foods are appropriate for frying.

Fatty fish are thebest sourcesof omega-3 fatty acids, which have many health benefits. However, these fats are very delicate and prone to damage at high temperatures.

For example, frying tuna has been shown to degrade its omega-3 content by up to 70–85%, while baking causes only minimal losses ( 18 , 19 ）。

In contrast, frying preserves vitamin C and B vitamins, and it may also increase the amount of fiber in potatoes by converting their starch into resistant starch ( 20 ）。

When oil is heated to a high temperature for a long period of time, toxic substances called aldehydes are formed. Aldehydes have been linked to an increased risk of cancer and other diseases (21）。

The type of oil, temperature, and length of cooking time affect the amount of aldehydes produced. Reheating oil also increases aldehyde formation.

如果您要炸食物，请不要煮熟，然后使用其中一种油炸最健康的油.

Summary

煎炸使食物味道美味，当使用健康的油时，它可以提供一些好处。最好避免炸脂鱼并最大程度地减少其他食物的煎炸时间。

蒸是保存养分的最佳烹饪方法之一，包括对热和水敏感的水溶性维生素（ 4 ,5,6, 17 ）。

Researchers have found that steaming broccoli, spinach, and lettuce reduces their vitamin C content by only 9–15% (5）。

The downside is that steamed vegetables may taste bland. However, this is easy to remedy by adding some seasoning and oil or butter after cooking.

Summary

Steaming is one of the best cooking methods for preserving nutrients, including water-soluble vitamins.

Here are 10 tips to reduce nutrient loss while cooking:

  1. 偷猎或煮沸时使用尽可能少的水。
  2. Consume the liquid left in the pan after cooking vegetables.
  3. Add back juices from meat that drip into the pan.
  4. Don’t peel vegetables until after cooking them. Better yet,don’t peel at allto maximize their fiber and nutrient density.
  5. Cook vegetables in smaller amounts of water to reduce the loss of vitamin C and B vitamins.
  6. 尝试在一两天内吃任何煮熟的蔬菜，因为当煮熟的食物暴露在空气中时，其维生素C含量可能会继续下降。
  7. 在可能的情况下（而不是之前）切碎食物。当食物整体煮熟时，少会暴露于热量和水中。
  8. 尽可能煮几分钟。
  9. When cooking meat, poultry, andfish，使用安全消费所需的最短烹饪时间。
  10. 烹饪蔬菜时不要使用小苏打。尽管它有助于保持颜色，但在小苏打产生的碱性环境中，维生素C会丢失。
Summary

There are many ways to preserve the nutrient content of foods without sacrificing taste or other qualities.

It’s important to select the right cooking method to maximize the nutritional quality of your meal.

However, there is no perfect cooking method that retains all nutrients.

In general, cooking for shorter periods at lower temperatures with minimal water will produce the best results.

Don’t let the nutrients in your food go down the drain.