Do fruit and vegetables have the same nutritional qualities when cooked or raw?
The longer they are cooked, the more vitamins and minerals are lost: cooking vegetables in boiling water for a prolonged period can cause 40% loss of vitamin and minerals. Antioxidant properties of tomato become much more bio-available when the tomato is cooked or processed. Processing extends the shelf life of foods. Processing also improves food safety by a variety of methods– for example; heating to sufficiently high temperatures destroys harmful bacteria; certain additives help prevent rancidity and prevent the growth of harmful fungus and bacteria; packaging helps to prevent product tampering.
