Why would cooked spinach contain more iron than raw?
I've been researching the nutrient content of various foods and I've found that cooked spinach appears to have more iron than raw spinach (3.57 mg / 100g vs 2.71 mg /100g). Intuitively, I would have expected the opposite.
Is the data I'm looking at wrong?
Maybe, it is just that it is easier to aborb the iron from cooked spinach rather than raw.
Can anyone explain the difference?
Best Answer
Iron is simply an element, so it cannot be destroyed by cooking (or generally temperature changes), as vitamins and other organic structures potentially can.
Cooked spinach inevitably has a much lower water content, thus the relative density of all other components must increase. So gram for gram, it makes sense that cooked spinach should have a higher concentration of iron (and possibly some other things) than raw. However, the actual process of cooking does nothing to change the amount of iron.
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Quick Answer about "Why would cooked spinach contain more iron than raw?"
Spinach. The leafy green is packed with nutrients, but you'll absorb more calcium and iron if you eat it cooked. The reason: Spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of iron and calcium but breaks down under high temperatures.Do you get more iron from cooked or raw spinach?
Iron 411: Both raw and cooked spinach are excellent sources of iron, containing twice as much as other leafy greens. A 100-gram serving of raw spinach contains 2.71 mg of iron, whereas cooked spinach contains 3.57 mg.Does cooked spinach have as much iron as raw spinach?
Spinach, Eaten Either Cooked or Raw, Offers Iron The same serving size of raw spinach, which is more loosely packed than when prepared cooked, gives you almost 1 mg of iron, offering some of the mineral, according to the USDA.Is cooked spinach better for iron absorption?
Oxalic acid naturally binds with minerals like calcium and iron, making them harder for the body to absorb. Cooking spinach can help unlock these iron absorption inhibitors and hence increase iron bioavailability. In other words, cooking spinach helps make iron more available to your body.How does temperature affect iron in spinach?
Fig 1(a) shows the effect of time and temperature of steam blanching on iron content of spinach leaves. Iron content increases with time until 10 min, after what it begins to decrease. It is the same observation with temperature, an increase of iron content until 95\xb0C, and a decrease after this temperature.More answers regarding why would cooked spinach contain more iron than raw?
Answer 2
I would guess that cooked spinach has lost a lot of the water content, so cooking doesn't add more iron, it just increases the percentage or iron by reducing the total mass.
I.e. if you had 100g of raw spinach and you cooked it (and drained it probably) you would end up with less than 100g of cooked spinach.
Answer 3
Spinach contains oxalic acid which inhibits the absorption of iron. Cooking destroys the oxalic acid therefore more iron is absorbed from cooked spinach. We absorb other vitamins and minerals from spinach. We absorb different nutrients from cooked and raw spinach, so.it is good to eat it both raw and cooked. (nutritionist knowledge)
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