Cooked Vegetables Can Mean
Better Iron Absorption

Raw foods are very beneficial, but your iron absorption may be suffering if you're leaving out cooked vegetables. This is especially important if you don't eat red meat, a significant source of iron in the diet.

Researchers in the US and Taiwan have found that cooking increases the amount of iron you can assimilate from vegetarian foods.

In his study, Rutgers researcher Tung-Ching Lee, PhD, found that nutrition gained from cooking was significant in 37 out of 48 vegetables and fruits tested.

Some of the Results

In broccoli, iron availability went from 6% up to 30%.
Cabbage, it increased from 6.7% to 26.7%.
Red peppers changed from 23.7% to 29.1%.
Green peppers, were even better, from 16.7% to 32.4%.
Tomatoes increased from 24.6% to 33.8%.
And peaches jumped from 0.8% to 13.5%.
(sounds like a good reason to have some Peach Cobbler.)

In addition to better iron absorption, cooked vegetables also have a better bioavailability of lycopene, the carotenoid from tomatoes that has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer.

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