Pressure cooking is becoming a familiar cooking method due to low energy consumption and a quick processing. But one should be aware while pressure cooking as it has some unwanted effects on quality of foods as well as beneficial one.
• With vegetables and fruits, the heat-sensitive nutrients , (e.g., vitamin C, folate and bioactive phytonutrients), that are beneficial for human health, are generally most susceptible to degradation during pressure cooking. Consuming the cooking water can help restore some of these losses.
• Pressure-cooked meat-based dishes show a significant reduction in unsaturated fat contents, specially omega fatty acids, but it appears that iron is not lost.
• In the case of grains and legumes, although the vitamins and heat-sensitive vitamins and phytonutrients are vulnerable to deterioration, the net result of pressure-cooking is a positive nutritional gain—from the increased digestibility of the macronutrients (protein, fiber and starch) and the increased bioavailability of the essential minerals.In addition to making foods like grains and legumes more digestible, pressure cooking does not create any of the unhealthy chemicals associated with baking and grilling methods.
