Boiling carrots before slicing can help fight cancer

Dr Kirsten Brandt, who led the study, explained that by boiling first, more nutritional surface area of the carrots get in touch with the water and thus a larger quantity of the nutrients percolate into the water while the vegetable is being cooked.

He noted that the carrots boiled whole were also tastier. He said, “By cooking them whole and chopping them up afterwards you are locking in both taste and nutrients so the carrot is better for you all round.”

"Boiled-before-cut" versus "cut-before-boiled"
A blind taste test was conducted on 100 people to differentiate the taste of "boiled-before-cut" versus "cut-before-boiled" carrots.

More than four-fifth of the participants found that carrots cooked whole tasted much better.

“The great thing about this is it's a simple way for people to increase their uptake of a compound we know is good for you, all you need is a bigger saucepan," said Brandt.

Falcarinol impact
The team of researchers found that that the "boiled-before-cut" carrots had 25 percent more of falcarinol, the anti-cancer compound, than the carrots which were slice first and then cooked.

Studies conducted by the researchers on rats have suggested that falcarinol has natural anti-cancer properties. When the animals were fed on falcarinol, the chances of their developing tumors reduce by one-third.

But the study had its own critics. Dr Kat Arney, of the charity Cancer Research UK, expressed her doubt that carrots could reduce cancer threat.

She said, "When it comes to eating, we know that a healthy balanced diet - rich in a range of fruit and vegetables - plays an important part in reducing the risk of many types of cancer, rather than any one specific food."

The Newcastle University study will be presented at NutrEvent, a symposium on nutrition and health to be held in France.