Cooking food prevents the human body from efficiently absorbing minerals
Scientific evidence refutes the claim that cooking prevents efficient mineral absorption; instead, cooking and food processing generally reduce anti-nutritional factors that otherwise inhibit mineral uptake.
The retrieved literature consistently shows that cooking and thermal processing methods are utilized to break down plant anti-nutrients (such as phytates, oxalates, and tannins) that bind minerals and impair their bioavailability. Therefore, cooking typically enhances, rather than prevents, the efficient absorption of minerals.
Mrinal Samtiya, Rotimi E. Aluko, Tejpal Dhewa. Plant food anti-nutritional factors and their reduction strategies: an overview. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-020-0020-5
Paper [5] explains that traditional processing and cooking methods are actually used to reduce anti-nutritional factors, thereby improving mineral digestibility and absorption.
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Sc Noonan Bsc, Gp Savage Bsc. Oxalate content of foods and its effect on humans. 1999. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-6047.1999.00038.x
Paper [6] states that soaking and cooking foods high in oxalates reduces their oxalate content, which otherwise would bind minerals and inhibit absorption.
Adriana Diaz Toni Fabbri, Guy A. Crosby. A review of the impact of preparation and cooking on the nutritional quality of vegetables and legumes. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgfs.2015.11.001
Paper [8] reviews how preparation and cooking can improve nutritional quality and maximize nutrient content rather than uniformly impairing mineral absorption.
Sofie Rousseau, Clare Kyomugasho, Miete Celus, Marc Hendrickx, Tara Grauwet. Barriers impairing mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability in plant-based foods and the perspectives for food processing. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2018.1552243
Paper [9] highlights that thermal processing and other preparation techniques help break down barriers and reduce antinutrients to improve mineral bioaccessibility and bioavailability.
F. A. Faizal, N. Ahmad, J. Yaacob, Sarina Abdul Halim Lim, Muhamad Hafiz Abd Rahim. Food processing to reduce antinutrients in plant-based foods. 2023. https://doi.org/10.47836/ifrj.30.1.02
Paper [10] notes that cooking and thermal processing are practiced to decrease the levels of antinutrients that typically decrease the bioavailability of micro- and macronutrients.
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