Share this article
Want to get the most out of your vegetables? Avoid boiling them.
Though most cooking methods—baking, boiling, and microwaving—break down vegetables’ tissues, destroying some antioxidants, boiling can leach even more antioxidants. This is because some of the disease-fighting compounds dissolve in hot water.
Every vegetable varies in how it reacts to each cooking method. But the analysis found that on average, boiling reduced vegetables’ levels of polyphenols—a type of antioxidant—by 38 percent.
After Brazilian researchers analysed 21 studies that looked at how different cooking methods affected vegetables’ levels of antioxidants, as well as the compounds that may fend off cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and neurodegenerative disease, they found that steaming vegetables is your best bed.
Steaming may even boost their nutritional value.
Related: 6 Fruits And Vegetables You Should Never Peel
Steaming tends to increase polyphenol levels because the heating process is gentler and the vegetables aren’t submerged in water, says Elizabeth H. Jeffrey, Ph.D., a professor of nutritional sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The gentle heat actually releases some polyphenols from bonds that would have prevented your body from being able to digest them if you had eaten the vegetables raw, Jeffrey says.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that microwaved or roasted broccoli is bad for you—it just might have fewer antioxidants than the steamed stuff.
Related: How To Grill Vegetables And Become Healthier
No matter how you cook your produce, just don’t overdo it. Cooking vegetables for too long at high temperatures tends to destroy more antioxidants, the researchers say.
Remove them from heat when they’re tender-crisp. You should be able to pierce them with a fork—but they shouldn’t fall apart when you do so.
Written by Melissa Romero for Men's Health.