Fat-soluble nutrients in kale make nutrient absorption difficult. The solution? Sauces.
To truly be a “superfood,” kale needs the right partner. This is according to recent research from the University of Missouri, which shows that our body has difficulty taking advantage of the most valuable nutrients in kale (specifically, kale) when it is consumed alone.
The good news is that the solution is simple and tasty: season with sauces oil-based, such as olive oil or mayonnaise. And there is a second, even more promising front: new sauces in nanoemulsion form, designed to maximize nutrient absorption.
The team from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), according to , started with a known problem: kale is rich in carotenoids – such as lutein, α-carotene and β-carotene – compounds associated with better vision, greater protection of the immune system and lower risk of disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular pathology and some types of cancer. But these nutrients are fat-solublethat is, they dissolve in fat and not in water, which makes it difficult for the body to use them.
The researchers then tested different ways of preparing the cabbage: raw, cooked, raw or cooked with sauce, and even cooked directly in a special nanoemulsion sauce. We used a laboratory model that imitates the human digestive process, allowing us to measure how much carotenoids were actually available for absorption.
Raw kale alone had very low carotenoid bioavailability. Cooking the kale without fat didn’t help (on the contrary, it slightly reduced the amount of accessible nutrients).
The big difference came when the fatty saucesespecially the nanoemulsion sauce: in all scenarios, both with raw and cooked cabbage, the presence of oil markedly increased the amount of carotenoids available. Cooking the cabbage in its own sauce or adding it to the final dish had similar effects.
For the authors of the study in Food Nutrition, these data point to a simple and scientifically based strategy: if we want to get more out of vegetables, it is not enough to choose “what” we eat, it is crucial to think about “how” we prepare and season them.
The team believes that, in the future, it will be possible to develop sauces and seasonings specifically designed to enhance nutrient absorption, not just in kale, but in many other vegetables.
