How much nutrition dissolves in boiling water? [closed]

At what temperature does all nutrition dissolve in water? I want to help people that can't eat solid food, by giving them liquefied food.

vegetables

Best Answer

It's not about temperature; it's about the type of nutrient, and sometimes a combination of temperature and time.

So if it's sugar, you're basically done - a little bit of heating and stirring is all it'll take. Starches take time, not just temperature. Imagine trying to dissolve rice into water - you'll have to boil it until it's not just cooked but mush. The fiber which is soluble will behave similarly, I believe.

Proteins are pretty variable. Some, like whey protein, will readily dissolve. Others never will; good luck dissolving chicken, for example.

Fat, on the other hand, will never dissolve. But some of them will turn liquid, at which point they could be emulsified with the rest. (For example, cream has plenty of emulsified milkfat in it.)

But if all you're trying to do is create liquid food, what you should be trying to do is grind/blend things until smooth, not actually dissolve anything. With some effort, you can turn pretty much anything into a (maybe thick) liquid.

The other main approach would be to buy powdered forms of the soluble nutrients to use as ingredients (like the whey protein I mentioned) but I would caution you that unless you really know what you're doing (talk to a nutritionist!), it'll be really, really easy to make something nutritionally incomplete like that.

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Does boiling water destroy nutrients?

Some minerals and vitamin A are also lost during cooking, although to a lesser extent. Fat-soluble vitamins D, E and K are mostly unaffected by cooking. Boiling results in the greatest loss of nutrients, while other cooking methods more effectively preserve the nutrient content of food.

Does nutritional value change when cooked?

Heat diminishes vitamins and phytonutrients (beneficial plant compounds other than vitamins or minerals) in fruits and vegetables. The longer they cook, and the higher the temperature, the greater the nutrient destruction. Even chopping food can begin to erode some of the nutrients.

How do you boil vegetables without losing nutrients?

To retain these vitamins, cook vegetables in as little water as possible for a minimal amount of time (unless you're planning to consume the water, as in a soup). Steaming and microwaving, both of which use little water, will give you the same results as boiling or blanching but with much less nutrient loss.

Is Twice Boiled Water Really Bad for You and Potentially a Carcinogen?

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