Posted Sept 13, 2012
Fruits and vegetables should always be eaten unpeeled if possible to give you the full nutrients. For example, 100 grams of unpeeled apples have about 16 mg of vitamin C and 12 microgram of folate while the same amount of peeled apples only has 8 mg and 5 micrograms.
If foods must be chopped up then they should be washed beforehand. Washing afterwards means that the nutrients are washed away.
Foods should best be processed directly after cutting them as the chopping destroys the cell structure, which fosters the loss of vitamins. For example, chopped cabbage or grated apples sit around for two hours, they lose up to 62 per cent of their vitamin C compared to the uncut product.
A way of at least slowing the loss of vitamin C is drizzling the cut pieces with vinegar or lemon juice and storing them in a cool place. And to maintain as much vitamin C as possible when cooking, stewing vegetables in recommended. Stewing means cooking the food with very little water.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)