Why is it better to eat spinach raw?

Like many other vegetables, spinach is full of beneficial vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. One of these compounds is lutein, a pigment found in many leafy green vegetables. It is an antioxidant that works with the immune system and has anti-inflammatory properties.

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have proven that lutein is especially beneficial for the cardiovascular system It helps to keep the arteries in good condition.

Raw, steamed, cooked or sautéed spinach?

Lutein breaks down in heat, so if they are cooked, most of their beneficial effect is lost. The researchers have wanted to verify how much the lutein available to be assimilated in spinach is reduced with the different means of cooking: cooked in water, steamed or sautéed at different temperatures.

They also determined how much lutein remained if they were reheated in the microwave the day after they were cooked, after a night in the fridge. And it was also measured in the smoothies made with raw spinach, along with water and other vegetables or dairy products.

The objective was to reproduce with maximum fidelity the different ways of consuming spinach that occur in real life.

The researchers then subjected the raw or variously cooked spinach to an enzymatic digestion process in the laboratory that simulated what happens in the stomach.

Spinach smoothies are the best option

The results of the complete experiment have been published in the journal Food Chemistry. The highest amounts of available lutein were found in the smoothies made with raw spinach, especially those containing dairy products (which can be substituted for vegetable milk).

Spinach that had been cooked showed much smaller amounts of available lutein, especially in long cooking. Interestingly, microwave reheating increased lutein, presumably because it leaked out through broken cell membranes.

Dr. Rosanna Chung, lead author of the study, comments that “it is best not to cook the spinach at all” and to have it shaken with a fatty drink, such as, for example, a coconut or almond milk.