I'm often asked my opinion about the cause or treatment of some medical condition,

but the question to instead ask is, what does the science say?

What is the best available balance of evidence published in the peer-reviewed medical literature

you have to say right now?

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Today we look at which method of cooking vegetables preserves the most antioxidants.

Here's our first story.

You may remember when I compared the effects of different cooking methods on different

phytonutrients and bell peppers, mushrooms, and a few other veggies,

well, food scientists have outdone themselves in this study.

They looked at six different cooking methods on 20 different vegetables.

Comparing three distinct measures of antioxidant activity,

that's more than 300 separate experiments to figure out the best way to cook our vegetables.

First, though, let's figure out the worst in terms of loss of antioxidant content.

Consider boiling, microwaving, pressure cooking in water, griddling, like cooking in a frying

pan without oil, frying in a frying pan, and baking at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

What's your guess for the worst? The worst is boiling when it comes to losing antioxidants.

The second worst, boiling under pressure.

When we use wet cooking methods, some of the nutrition is lost in the cooking water.

When it comes to preparing vegetables with your antioxidants in mind,

water is not a cook's best friend.

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