Frying vegetables is HEALTHIER than boiling them

DITCHING the saucepan and boiling water in favour of a frying pan and olive oil may make your vegetables even healthier, say scientists.

 

Scientists have said you should fry not boil vegetables to make them healthier

 

Frying vegetables might not seem the healthiest way to cook them, but a recent study found it could boost nutritional content more than other cooking methods.

According to the research, cooking vegetables in olive oil enhances and preserves phenols - cell protecting chemicals that have many disease-fighting benefits.

The researchers used 120g cubes of potato, pumpkin, tomato and eggplant, all of them without seeds or skin.

 

The frying also retained more healthy fats within the vegetables.

 

The vegetables were either fried and sautéed in extra virgin olive oil, boiled in water, or a mix of boiling water with olive oil.

Moisture, fat, phenols and antioxidants were measured. 

The findings revealed the way oil transferred heat to the vegetables meant phenolic compounds were increased and therefore the nutritional value.

 

Olive oil is typically used in a Mediterranean diet

 

The frying also retained more healthy fats within the vegetables. 

As such, researchers said frying vegetables in extra virgin olive oil or mixture of olive oil and boiling water is an ideal cooking method to get healthier veggies on your plate.

Cristina Samaniego Sanchez, a professor at the University of Granada said: “We can confirm that frying is the method that produces the greatest associated increases in the phenolic fraction, which means an improvement in the cooking process although it increases the energy density by means of the absorbed oil.

  

A diet high in vegetables and olive oil has been proven to be good for your health

 

"When the phenolic content of the raw vegetable is high, the total content of phenols is increased even more if EVOO is used in the process, and boiling doesn't affect the final concentration. Therefore, we must stress that frying and sautéing conserve and enhance the phenolic composition. Hydrothermal cooking methods can be recommended when the food is consumed together with the cooking water, as the addition of EVOO improves the phenolic profile and compensates for the deficiencies of the raw food." 

Mediterranean diet has long been associated with a high intake of vegetables and olive oil.

Often dubbed the world’s healthiest diet, recent findings suggest this type of diet could stave of dementia and heart disease.