Fatten Up Your Veggies!
Add fat to veggies for the best nutrient absorption
If you’re cutting back on fat in your diet, you’ll want to make sure you’re not also cutting back on nutrition.
Research shows that some of the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables—especially antioxidant pigments like beta carotene, lycopene and lutein—are better absorbed when fruits and vegetables are eaten with some fat. That’s because these nutrients are fat-soluble. They need fat to be absorbed into intestinal cells.
One study, by researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus, examined the difference in nutrient absorption between salsa consumed with or without the addition of avocado, which is high in monounsaturated fat. They found that people absorbed an average of 4.4 times as much lycopene and 2.6 times as much beta carotene when avocado was added to the salsa. When these same researchers added avocado to a salad of romaine lettuce, spinach and shredded carrots, they found that people absorbed seven times the lutein and nearly 18 times the beta carotene compared to when they ate the salad with a no-fat dressing. (Unlu, NZ et al. J Nutri 2005; 135:431-436.)
So go ahead and add some fat to your salads and vegetables. Choose healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, avocado, black olives or tuna fish and make a meal of it.
