Effect of Common Culinary Methods Practiced in Sri Lanka on the Nutrient Composition of Commonly Consumed Vegetables and Other Foods

Abstract

In Sri Lankan traditional cooking, coconut and spices are incorporated to enhance the taste, flavor, and aroma. However, little attention has been given to assess the effect of these ingredients on the nutritional and chemical composition of the consumed food. The objective of this study was to ascertain the effect of traditional cooking methods on the chemical composition of vegetables, cereals and cereal-based foods, legumes, and selected nonvegetarian food varieties consumed in the daily diet. The results indicate that the addition of coconut milk (CM), coconut scraps, and coconut oil (CO) had a significant impact on the fat content of the prepared foods ( p < 0.05 ). Cooking facilitated the incorporation of fat into food. According to the results, more percentage increases of fat content were observed in tempered string beans (97.51%) and cauliflower milk curry (96.6%). Data revealed that boiling helped to reduce the fat content in cereals and legumes. The cooked foods prepared using traditional recipes with CM, CO, or scraps have higher nutritional content than raw foods and have a significant nourishing potential that meets the daily energy requirements ( p < 0.05 ). It can be concluded that the chemical composition of cooked food serves as a more realistic guideline in recommending dietary interventions in disease and weight management.

Towards the Sustainable Exploitation of Salt-Tolerant Plants: Nutritional Characterisation, Phenolics Composition, and Potential Contaminants Analysis of Salicornia ramosissima and Sarcocornia perennis alpini

“…In a previous work of ours, the 0.5% dw total lipid levels found for S. ramosissima from the southern arm of the Mondego estuary were considerably lower [ 8 ]. Although the values obtained in the present study were moderately low for both halophytes, they remain significant when compared with those reported for several commonly consumed vegetables, which have less than 1.0% dw lipid content [ 16 , 17 ]. In the study by Castañeda-Loaiza et al [ 11 ], cultivated S. fruticosa specimens exhibited considerably higher lipid content than wild ones (see Supplementary Material Table S2 ).…”

Evaluation of cookery methods in reduction of pesticide residues and quality attributes of okra fruit (Abelmoschus esculentus L.)

“…handling of the food (Dewangani et al, 2021). However, an adequate selection of the cookery method produces a product with great health-promoting contents and sensory attributes (Stanikowski et al, 2021).…”