Making food better

An interesting piece on absorption of nutrients from food on NPR this morning. Among the things they discussed:

• you need oil to absorb nutrients from foods. Not necessarily a lot, but some. (So, out with that horrible no-fat dressing!)(You also need oil to carry flavours across the tastebuds, so it's an all-round good idea.)
  
• cooking vegetables with caratenoids - carrots, in particular - is actually better than eating them raw as it makes the caratenoids easier to absorb
• microwaving might help to preserve antioxidants better than other cooking methods because of short cooking times