There are certain phytonutrients that are absorbed better from cooked foods.
Raw Food Nutrient Absorption
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
It’s not what you eat, though, but what you absorb. Check out this study on long-term raw foodists. This study was done in Europe, so the “average Western diet” here wasn’t terrible. Four servings of fruits and vegetables a day, versus a better diet—seven servings a day of fruits and veggies, both raw and cooked; versus a raw food diet, in which they ate, on average, a whopping 17 servings of fruits and veggies a day; leading them to have about three times the beta-carotene intake.
But that’s intake. How much of it actually got into their bloodstream? Blood beta-carotene is considered a good surrogate marker for a healthy diet. “Tell me what your blood beta-carotene level is, I will tell you what your health risk is!”
So who had the most beta-carotene in their bodies? Those eating 4 servings-a-day; 7; or 14? It was the middle group; the 7 servings-a-day group, because cooking can boost the absorption of phytonutrients like beta-carotene—like the cooked carrots having more antioxidants than raw.
The raw foodists here were eating 17 servings a day, and basically had the same amount of this phytonutrient reaching their internal organs as those on the crappy standard diet! So, I recommend a combination of raw and cooked foods.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Garcia AL, Mohan R, Koebnick C, Bub A, Heuer T, Strassner C, Groeneveld MJ, Katz N, Elmadfa I, Leitzmann C, Hoffmann I. Plasma beta-carotene is not a suitable biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake in german subjects with a long-term high consumption of fruits and vegetables. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;56(1):23-30. Epub 2009 Nov 27.
- Hercberg S, Czernichow S, Galan P. Tell me what your blood beta-carotene level is, I will tell you what your health risk is! The viewpoint of the SUVIMAX researchers. Ann Nutr Metab. 2009;54(4):310-2. Epub 2009 Sep 22.
Image thanks to Christa via flickr
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
It’s not what you eat, though, but what you absorb. Check out this study on long-term raw foodists. This study was done in Europe, so the “average Western diet” here wasn’t terrible. Four servings of fruits and vegetables a day, versus a better diet—seven servings a day of fruits and veggies, both raw and cooked; versus a raw food diet, in which they ate, on average, a whopping 17 servings of fruits and veggies a day; leading them to have about three times the beta-carotene intake.
But that’s intake. How much of it actually got into their bloodstream? Blood beta-carotene is considered a good surrogate marker for a healthy diet. “Tell me what your blood beta-carotene level is, I will tell you what your health risk is!”
So who had the most beta-carotene in their bodies? Those eating 4 servings-a-day; 7; or 14? It was the middle group; the 7 servings-a-day group, because cooking can boost the absorption of phytonutrients like beta-carotene—like the cooked carrots having more antioxidants than raw.
The raw foodists here were eating 17 servings a day, and basically had the same amount of this phytonutrient reaching their internal organs as those on the crappy standard diet! So, I recommend a combination of raw and cooked foods.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Garcia AL, Mohan R, Koebnick C, Bub A, Heuer T, Strassner C, Groeneveld MJ, Katz N, Elmadfa I, Leitzmann C, Hoffmann I. Plasma beta-carotene is not a suitable biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake in german subjects with a long-term high consumption of fruits and vegetables. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;56(1):23-30. Epub 2009 Nov 27.
- Hercberg S, Czernichow S, Galan P. Tell me what your blood beta-carotene level is, I will tell you what your health risk is! The viewpoint of the SUVIMAX researchers. Ann Nutr Metab. 2009;54(4):310-2. Epub 2009 Sep 22.
Image thanks to Christa via flickr
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Raw Food Nutrient Absorption
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
For more on nutrient absorption, check out these videos:
New Mineral Absorption Enhancers Found
Juicing Removes More than Just Fiber
And check out these videos on phytonutrient absorption in raw and cooked foods:
Raw Veggies vs. Cooked for Heart Disease
Kale & the Immune System
Second Strategy to Cooking Broccoli
And check out these videos on the benefits of the phytonutrient lycopene:
Treating Asthma With Fruits & Vegetables
Why Might Vegetarians Have Less HPV?
The Fruit Whose Juice Is Healthier
And check out my other videos on cooking methods.
Also see my associated blog post: How to Enhance Mineral Absorption.
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