Introduction

Nutrients that are obtained from our food is essential for maintaining our health. Each
vitamin and mineral has different functions to keep our well-being, which includes growth and
reproduction, prevention of disease, metabolic processes and many others. Since nutrients can
be lost easily through cooking, it is vital to retain as much as possible. The nutrient retention is
defined as the amount of nutrients present after culinary processes that include cooking,
temperature, pH, and length of exposure.
The nutrient retention rate can be calculated in two different methods, which include the
apparent retention and the true retention. Both rates are determined by dividing the nutrient
grams per cooked food by nutrient grams per raw food. After the calculation has been made,
both methods calculate the overall weight in slightly different manners but come up with the
same results.9
To understand how cooking methods affect nutrient retention, it is important to
understand the principles of different cooking methods. There are two different types which
include dry heat and wet heat. Microwaving, which is the dry heat method, is able to effectively
heat through the use of radiation. It is accomplished through energy of the polar molecules in the
food, which that is usually water. The polar molecules start to move faster thus being an effective
method of cooking.
On the other hand, the wet cooking method includes cooking styles with the use of water
such as boiling, pressure cooking, and blanching. The boiling cooking method is accomplished
by the convection currents in hot water. The dense water molecules are constantly colliding into
the food that passes on energy into the food. Comparatively, the temperature of boiling the food,
212F, is lower than through the dry heat method. Furthermore, pressure cooking uses cooking

through boiling, however, the pressure cooker traps the steam of the boiling water which in
return increases the pressure of the liquid and raises the boiling point. Additionally, blanching is
used particularly in food preservation. A fresh fruit or vegetables enzymes are inactivated by
cooking in boiling water for one to two minutes then immediately submersed in cool water to
discontinue the cooking.10
Overall, nutrient retention is important to understand because most people take the
nutrition value of a raw fruit or vegetable instead of a cooked one. When evaluating the
nutritional retention of a food it is important consider factors that may change the value such as
time and temperature that the food was cooked at. 11
Sensory Evaluation of the food Items after various preparation methods versus Microwaving,
Cooked foods can be assessed through sensory evaluation where factors such as color,
texture and flavor are used to evaluate the quality of the product. A comparison study was done
on beans, brinjal, khol, and radishes used cooking methods that included the conventional
cooking, pressure cooking and microwave cooking. In order to ensure consistency, the
vegetables were weighed in grams and cut up in a uniform manner. The panel members that
judged the vegetables consisted of twenty people, non-smokers, age twenty to twenty three years
that were semi-trained. The panelists were presented two of the same vegetables at a time where
one was a control and the other was the cooked. They identified differences and then identified
their preferences. After the data was collected, it was analyzed using a Binomial distribution
table. After the data was analyzed, the green beans the microwave and conventional cooking
samples were preferred, whereas, the pressure-cooked green beans were not. The pressure
cooking method tends to have the greatest color change. The loss of color retention may be due

to the chlorophyll in the green bean turning into a yellow-brown color, which suggests
pheophytin presence.
The preference for texture, aroma and tastes was the conventional cooking method
followed by microwaving, however, the preference comparison was nominal. The pressure
cooking method for the green beans was the least preferred. The Knol-knol that is generally
made up of anthoxanthins that is colorless, however, turns a slight shade of green when cooked.
All methods had similar ratings in acceptance, however, the flavor was considered poor due to
the sulfur compounds released while cooking. The radish, which is made up of anthoxanthins,
had very similar results as the knol-knol. Lastly, the brinjal had similar results for all of the
cooking methods that effected color and appearance. The preference was the microwaving
method due to the pressure cooker turning the brinjal a brownish color. After the evaluating the
results of the study, it was concluded that conventional cooking had very similar results as
microwaving while pressure cooking was the least preferred method.1
The physical properties of microwaving can vary depending on the watts that are used
when cooking or drying out a food. This can be proven in a study that used fresh citrus peels
(mandarin oranges, lemons, and Thompson) to determine the shrinkage and color measurement.
In the study, the citrus peels were cut up in uniform size and place on a glass turn table in the
microwave and was performed according to a preset power which ranges from 100-600 watts.
To determine the shrinkage, the volume of the peel was measured before and after microwaving.
It was found that the greater the amount of watts used was correlated with shrinkage.
Regardless, of the watts, the shrinkage was due to an eighty-eight percent water evaporation rate
from the citrus peels.

Conversely, in regards to color, the lemon peel has different results than the color of the
Thompson and mandarin peels. The lemon peels had much greater color loss due to flavonoids
that hold color, whereas, the carotenoids were able to hold the color better in mandarin and
Thompson peels when microwave heat was applied. Generally, the higher the watts used to cook
using the microwave, the more undesirable the food is when evaluating using the human senses.2
Another study that used Irish York cabbage as part of the experiment focused on color
and texture. The cabbage was cut up, microwaved at various watts for up to fourteen minutes
then cooled in an ice water bath for one minute. After analysis, there was a strong correlation
shown between longer microwaving time and reduced color of vegetables. It was observed that
chlorophyll was lost when placed in the water which contributed to the color loss. Additionally,
the texture, particularly firmness, was measured by using a shear to cut through the cabbage.
After microwaving the cabbage, it was found that there was about at sixty six percent reduction
in firmness.3
Preparation effects on Polyphenoyl, Ascorbic acid, and Beta Carotene
The food preparation directly affects the retention rate of polyphenoyls, ascorbic acid,
and beta-carotene. A study took the affects of nutrient retention by preparing red bell peppers
and used the cooking methods of microwave blanching, water blanching, and steam blanching.
When examining the results, the ascorbic acid was significantly lost, about twenty to seventy
percent. While the microwave blanching method retained about ninety-five percent of the
ascorbic acid. Since ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin, it is assumed that these it would
have been lost through wet cooking methods. In addition, the microwave blanching method had
a high retention rate of beta-carotene. However, when protein was measured, there was a high
loss of when microwaving blanching in comparison to the water and steam blanching. The

higher loss of protein is due to denaturing of the protein when cooking at high temperatures.
Overall, in comparison to water and steam blanching, microwave blanching was found that to
have a higher nutrient rate.4
The second study focused on preparation methods and the affects of ascorbic acid and
beta-carotene through microwaving, conventional cooking (boiling water), the autoclave and
steaming. It was determined that microwaving had the highest ascorbic acid and beta-carotene
retention rate when cooking carrots. Whereas, the autoclave had the highest ascorbic acid
retention rate for broccoli and steaming had the highest retention rate for carotenoids. Generally,
the vegetables used conventional cooking had the greatest amount carotenoid loss due to longer
cooking time and more water used. 5
Effects on the Nutrient Retention of foods based on the use of wet heat and dry
Nutrient retention is highly affected by the type of heat used, which includes dry heat
(microwave oven and conventional oven) and wet heat (cooking in water). Through the use of
these heats, a recent study evaluated the correlation between the heats and phenolic compounds,
3-deoxyanthocyandins (3-DXAs), vitamin E, and antioxidant levels in sorghum. When subjected
to dry heat, the 3-DXAs had a ninety- seven percent retention rate. Whereas when subjected to
wet heat, there was an eighty-five percent retention rate. It was determined that the instability of
the sorghum increased with time and temperature. Moreover, the loss of phenolic compounds
and Vitamin E had increased in wet heat in comparison to dry heat due to loss in cooking water
and the fact that sorghum flour has higher water content than other flours. As found in the
previous mentioned studies, this study has concluded that there is a loss of carotenoids when
subjected to dry heat.6

Another study evaluated the retention of zinc in fresh vegetables by three different
methods, which included boiling in water, and freezing and thawing through microwaving or
boiling. It was found that there was a higher loss in zinc when freezing the vegetables due to
damage of the cell membrane. Overall, it was found that zinc had no loss of the vegetables that
were frozen and microwaved in comparison to just the frozen vegetables.7
Furthermore, a study investigated the effect of wet (steaming) and dry heat (microwaving
and hot air oven) on the amino acid, Lysine. Three different types of proteins that were used,
that contained Lysine, oilseed, pulse groups and cereal with whey protein concentrate as the
reference protein. Results has shown that the moist heat method had a maximum retention rate
of eight two percent. Consequently, the dry method had a significant difference between the
retention rate of hot air oven and microwaving. The hot air oven had a loss of sixty percent due
to the direct heat on the protein sample. The microwave heated protein had a loss of twenty four
percent which was attributed to energy absorbing water and polar molecules within the food thus
effectively heating.8
Conversely, a study that looked at the antioxidant activities are in microwaving and
boiling in Chinese Long beans, bitter gourd, and water convolvulus. The study put the
vegetables in 100 ml of water and cooked for five minutes in either the microwave or boiling
water. Pressure cooked vegetables where cooked in 100 ml of water in an autoclave for twenty
minutes. It was found that there was an improvement in antioxidants in the broccoli, bitter gourd,
and water convolves. However, there was no change in antioxidant activity in pressure cooking
the vegetables. 13

Conclusion
Throughout the research is it apparent that not all vitamins and minerals are lost through
wet method cooking versus the dry cooking method, particularly microwaving. Without testing
food items in a lab, it is possible to know whether or not vitamins and minerals have been lost.
For example a white vegetable that is white has anthoxanthins in may turn a slight green color
due to the sulfur. Also, green vegetables that are cooked in water will lose the chlorophyll results
in a dark green-brown color. Through the texture, taste, and color, it is possible to understand the
loss of the vitamins. Through the sensory data that was researched, the items that had the kept
the desired qualities were microwaved items in comparison to wet method cooking. This was
also shown in the data from the items that were tested through additional scientific methods.
However, proteins had a different result due to the denaturing because of the very high
temperature within a short amount of time.
In addition, even though blanching and freezing items inhibit enzymes from further
oxidization, it is important to recognize that the wet cooking methods causes further breakdown
of the plant cell in comparison to the dry heat method, specifically microwaving. The overall
conclusion is that if a person is looking to recover waters soluble vitamins that the best option is
microwaving, whereas, wet method cooking is the best for protein because it is cooked at a lower
temperature, thus reducing the rate of denaturation.
Application to Practice
As practicing Registered Dietitians, it is important to understand nutrient retention and the
best method of cooking to get the most out of our fruits and vegetables. When people have
nutrient deficiencies, we must get the maximum nutrients possible in order to get them at a
healthy state. For example, a study has shown that many vegans are deficient in iron because the

main source in the American diet comes from meat. As Registered Dietitians, it is imperative for
us know what food options are a good source of Iron but also what can be done to have it best
absorbed. It has been proven the ascorbic acid helps to enhance bioavailability. Therefore, when
menu planning, it is important to use cooking methods that help retain the iron and ascorbic
acid.12
Another aspect to the Dietetic Practice is to understand not only what healthy foods are
but how to cook the foods and make them tasty. Whether counseling a patient on a one on one
basis or menu planning for a hospital, taste will be imperative in order to get the people to eat
and stick to a particular diet. For example, people enjoy having sauteed spinach in either oil
where folic acid and other nutrients can be lost. If the recipe is calls for a small amount of water
and microwaving the spinach, there will be a lot fewer nutrients lost and the spinach will still
taste good.
Furthermore, convenience is always a factor that we would be able to use. Microwaving
is faster and easier than taking the time to boil or use wet cooking methods. In order to set
clients up for success, we can find techniques such as time to make it easy to improve the
patients health.