Download THE GALAXY EDUCATION SYSTEM Home Science Methods of

THE GALAXY EDUCATION SYSTEM
Home Science
Methods of increasing nutritive
value
Good food with adequate nutrients is important for one's physical and mental health. Eating a
variety of foods does not mean that the individual is assured of the entire essential nutrients
especially vitamins and minerals needed for the body. There are lot of methods like combination,
sprouting, fermentation, parching, puffing, parboiling, liming are used to enhance the nutritive
value of the foods.
COMBINATION
Combination of foods provides variety to the diet as well as increases the nutritive value of the
foods. Pulses are major source of proteins for vegetarians but they lack in essential amino acid
methionine but cereals provide this amino acid. Likewise cereals also provide proteins but they
lack in amino acid lysine. This amino acid is present in pulses. If the two are combined the
protein quality of the both is superior to either cereals or pulses taken alone. Some of the cereal
pulse combinations are idli, dhokla, khichadi, mixing wheat flour with Bengal gram flour, soy
flour and wheat flour, cereal, pulse, and vegetable. Pulao and aloo paratha are commonly used
food preparation of this combination. Combination supplies balanced amounts of protein,
carbohydrate, and minerals. Leafy vegetables are good source of vitamin A, calcium and iron for
e.g. spinach paratha, fenugreek paratha, spinach dhal etc. Milk and wheat, milk and rice, milk
and wheat germ also provides good supply of nutrients especially protein, calcium, vitamin E.
Animal protein like meat, fish and egg should be taken along with vegetables to get the
maximum of protein, minerals and vitamins.
Sprouting
In this method the raw grains or beans are soaked in water for 10 -12 hours with equal amount of
water till almost all the water is absorbed and the seeds swell up to their maximum size. The
soaked grains should be tied or covered in a wet muslin cloth and kept in warm place the cloth
should be kept moist till the shoots appear. The sprouted grain may be eaten raw with salt, lemon
juice, and other vegetables like onion, tomato, cucumber, cabbage, and carrot either raw or
cooked. Wheat, green gram, cowpea, soybean, bengal gram and fenugreek seeds are usually
sprouted. Germination or sprouting enhances the vitamin C content of the pulses and cereals.
Niacin content is increased to 60 - 100%. Iron gets loosened from its bound form and becomes
easily available. Digestibility of sprouted products is increased because the cell walls carrying
carbohydrates and proteins are broken down during the process. Digestibility increases due to
production of amylase. Sprouted foods can be converted to amylase rich food. Sprouting of
fenugreek reduces its bitter taste.
Parboiling
This method is used mainly for the paddy. The paddy is soaked in water for some time and then
it is steamed or boiled. It is milled after drying to remove the brown husks. In parboiling most of
the nutrients in the husk are absorbed by the grains. Especially the water-soluble vitamins of the
B group. Thiamine and riboflavin are doubled than the polished rice. While cooking parboiled
rice, the loss of nutrients is much less than in case of polished rice.
Fermentation
Tiny micro-organisms that are naturally present in foods bring about fermentation. Making of
curd from milk is a good example of fermentation. Milk sets into curd due to the presence of the
lactobacillus. Lactose is converted into lactic acid, which is sour in taste. Fermented food is soft
easy to digest and provides variety in texture. Fermentation increases thiamine, riboflavin, and
niacin to double the original amounts. Nutrients such as vitamin C, methionine, and folic acid are
also increased during this process. Iron gets released from its bound form during fermentation
and becomes easily absorbable.
Parching /Puffing
PARCHING /PUFFING
Parching method is used for wheat, maize, rice, bengal gram, and peas. These food items are
made moist and suddenly heated. The water escapes by puffing out the grain. Popcorn, puffed
rice or wheat are commonly used parched products. They make a good break fast cereals with
sugar and milk. Even ladoos can be made with puffed cereal with jaggery. Starch becomes more
digestible after parching. The cell walls of the starch grain rupture and the large chemical
structure of the starch break down into smaller ones. Some loss of lysine in the protein does
occur because of the high temperature necessary for parching.
Cooking
Cooking does lose some of the nutrients but some are enhanced after cooking. Biotin a vitamin
of the B group is present in fair amounts in egg yolk but the white of the egg contains a
substance called avidin, which prevents availability of biotin. Avidin is completely destroyed by
cooking and biotin is made available to the body. Likewise during cooking trypsin inhibitors are
destroyed rendering the proteins present in foods gets better digestibility. The wet methods of
cooking lead to comparatively greater losses than the dry methods. The tamarind when added in
cooking act as vitamin preservative.
Supplementation
Supplementation is taking in a macro or micronutrient through some other means than your
regular diet. Many people supplement vitamins and minerals because their poor dietary choices
leave them with shortfalls in vital nutrition. Some athletes supplement protein to help recover
from intense workouts. For the average person supplementation would not be necessary if they
ate a well balance diet consisting of whole food products including lean meats, whole grains and
healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado. Unfortunately in our fast paced American-drive
through lifestyles, supplementation has become a necessity.
Saving nutrients during the process of cooking is called conservation.
CONSERVATION OF
NUTRIENTS
Guidelines to minimize nutrient losses during preparation
1. Choose fresh foods that are not over-ripe, bruised, cut or scraped.
2. Wash vegetables before cutting. Soaking or washing time should be reduced to minimize
nutrient loss.
3. Cut vegetables into big pieces so that exposure of vitamins to water is less while cooking
and washing.
4. Use a vegetable peeler to remove skin as it helps remove only a very thin layer of skin.
5. Use minimum water for cooking. Bring the water to boil and add the vegetables to cook.
6. Cook vegetables by steaming and pressure cooking to conserve nutrients.
7. Cover the vessel with a lid while cooking as it hastens cooking.
8. Vegetables salads should be prepared just before serving to conserve nutrients.
9. Use acids such as lime juice or vinegar to salads as it prevents loss of Vitamin C since
Vitamin C is stable in acid.
10. Store foods in a cool, dark place.
11. When boiling, add the raw food to the boiling water rather than to cold water.
12. Steaming is a way of cooking with a minimum amount of water.
13. If possible use the cooking water for gravies, sauces or soups as it is a source of watersoluble vitamins and elements (minerals).
14. Cook for the minimum time necessary to make the food palatable and safe.
15. Do not use baking soda to help keep the green colour of vegetables, as this increases loss
of vitamin C.
16. Do not use copper utensils. (Copper helps to destroy vitamin C.)
17. Soak whole pulses overnight and other dhals for one hour before cooking.
18. Use the leftover dhal water to make rasam or sambar.
Liming
http://www.diethealthclub.com/health-food/nutrition-value-of-lime.html