There are many advantages to eating fruit and vegetables raw. Water-soluble vitamins (such as vitamin C) are destroyed by heating, so there will be less vitamin C in a cooked carrot than in a similar raw carrot.
But for some nutrients, cooking (and juicing) is more nutritious, because it makes the nutrients more easily assimilated. Cooking and juicing breaks down tough fibres and allows the digestive juices to work more effectively on the vegetable. This is particularly important for someone who is elderly, ill or who has impaired digestion.
For example, research has shown that we absorb approximately 3-4% of carotenoids from raw carrots and 15-20% from cooked carrots. Carotenoids are plant pigments that give yellow, orange and red fruit and vegetables their colour. Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, so have a role in helping us fight old age and cancer.
Juicing fruit and vegetables is an excellent way to combine the advantages of both raw and cooked. There are a lot of different juicers out there, so I decided to ask the experts at the Wholistic Research Company in the UK for more about juicing and juicers.
What are the benefits of a juicer over...