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Food processing and loss of nutrients
Preservation of food can result in loss of nutrients
Before being consumed, almost all food undergoes some sort of processing. Food is mostly processed for commercial purposes in order to remove microorganisms that have the potential to spread illness and to prolong its shelf life. Food processing can also include only cooking a food or mixing it with other foods to make a recipe. In any event, processing frequently modifies the nutritional content of food.
Mechanisms impacting the nutritional value of food
The processes used to raise, harvest, store, and prepare food can all have an impact on the nutritional value of the food. Foods that undergo high-temperature, high-light, or high-oxygen processing lose the most nutrients. fertilisers, Fertilised soils are necessary for the production of most plant crops.
Grind cereals, like wheat, to get rid of their fibrous husks. The majority of the plant's dietary fibre, B-group vitamins, phytochemicals, and certain minerals are found in the husks. Because of this, even though wholemeal versions of products like bread have been artificially fortified with some of the nutrients that were lost during milling, they are still less nutrient-dense than white bread. Restoring all that has been removed is not feasible, particularly with regard to the phytochemicals. In certain goods, "fibre" is reintroduced as resistant starch, which might not have the same health benefits as the original fibre.
Food is frequently rapidly cooked using steam or water before canning or freezing. The B-complex and vitamin C are among the water-soluble vitamins that are susceptible.
Freezing preserves the nutritional content of food. Processing food before freezing and boiling it once it thaws are the main causes of any nutrient losses. Fruits and other foods that have been dried out may lose some of their vitamin C content, but other nutrients—especially fibre from plant-based meals—may be concentrated. Food items become more energy dense after being dried, which could lead to weight gain.
Additional nutrients are lost in the cooking water when dehydrated food is reconstituted and cooked with water.
Losing nutrients through cooking
If you choose to boil your vegetables, you lose your vitamins to the cooking water because some vitamins dissolve in water. When you boil a potato, for instance, a lot of its B and C vitamins will move into the boiling water.
If you decide to make a soup out of the potato and liquid, for instance, you can still reap the benefits of these nutrients. Other cooking techniques including stir-frying, roasting, grilling, roasting, steaming, or microwaving typically retain more vitamins and other nutrients.
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