Processing Foods Boosts Antioxidants?
We have all heard processed foods have less nutritional value than fresh foods. Processing destroys vitamins and leads to nutritionally inferior foods? But is this always true? Recent research is helping to dispel some of these myths. In fact, for antioxidants processing seems to boost their effectiveness. Tomatoes Fresh is best, right? Well, maybe not. Research has shown that cooked tomatoes like spaghetti sauce, or canned tomatoes has higher antioxidant levels than fresh tomatoes. How can this be? As far back as 2002, a study in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry noted that heating tomatoes such as the heat involved in canning tomatoes, resulted in elevating not only the total antioxidant content of the tomato but also the lycopene content. Although some vitamin C was lost in processing, the antioxidant value was increased. Substances like lycopene help guard against some cancers and heart dise...