title: Effect of domestic cooking methods on the total antioxidant capacity of vegetables.
abstract: As well as tables of food composition, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) databases--developed in past years for investigating health effects of antioxidant-rich foods in epidemiological and nutritional studies--have been created on the basis of analytical data from raw plant material. However, most vegetables are commonly cooked before consumption. With the aim of completing a previously developed TAC database, the effect of the major domestic practices (i.e. boiling, pan-frying and deep-frying) on the TAC of commonly consumed cooked vegetables was evaluated. Based on dry weight, boiling generally resulted in positive TAC changes whereas a general negative effect on the TAC was observed in pan-fried vegetables. Deep-frying produced a TAC increase of potato, artichoke and aubergine but a TAC reduction of mushroom and onion. The present study clearly indicates that cooking is not always a detrimental process when the TAC is used as an index to evaluate the nutritional characteristics of vegetables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Parma, Italy. nicoletta.pellegrini@unipr.it
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miglio
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Del Rio
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvatore
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serafini
authors.forename: Furio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brighenti
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales / Q000737:chemistry; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis*; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods*; D031943:Cynara scolymus / Q000737:chemistry; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006358:Hot Temperature; D009753:Nutritive Value; D019697:Onions / Q000737:chemistry; D032323:Solanum melongena / Q000737:chemistry; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000737:chemistry; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants