Is it better to eat our vegetables raw or cooked?

If you're thinking raw, you're right.

But if you guessed cooked, you're also right.

A number of nutrients like vitamin C are partially destroyed by cooking.

On the other hand, some nutrients like lycopene and tomatoes

become more absorbable upon cooking. So I advocate eating a combination of cooked and raw foods.

Check out this study on long-term raw foodists. The study was done in Europe, so the average

Western diet here wasn't terrible. About four servings of fruits and vegetables a day,

versus a better so-called wholesome nutrition diet of seven daily servings 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 compared to the average eaters.

But that's intake.

How much of it actually got into their bloodstreams?

Blood beta-carotene is considered to be a surrogate marker for fruit and vegetable consumption.

Some researchers even suggest if you tell them what your blood

beta-carotene level is, they can tell you what your health risk is. So who had the most

beta-carotene in their bodies? Those eating four servings a day, seven, or 17. It was the middle

group, the seven daily servings group, because cooking can boost the absorption of

phytonutrients like beta-carotene. For example, you get more beta-carotene in your bloodstream

eating cooked carrots than you do eating the same amount of raw carrots. The raw foodists were

eating 17 servings a day and basically had the same amount of this phytonutrient reaching their internal organs as those of the standard diet getting four measly daily servings a day and basically had the same amount of this phytonutrient reaching their internal organs

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