If you overcook fish or meat, does it lose nutrients in the same way veg does, or will it just affect the taste?
Cooking meat or fish causes chemical and physical changes which make the flavour, palatability and digestibility of the raw product more acceptable. Heat may also increase the availability of some minerals by destroying enzymes and anti-digestive factors. But cooking more usually results in the loss of certain nutrients, this is greatest at high temperatures and over long cooking times. Protein is denatured by heat, and when cooking conditions are severe it becomes less available for utilisation in the body. This is partly because the changes in structure make the protein more difficult to digest and partly because some of the component amino acids are changed. The B-vitamins found in meat and fish are all water-soluble and most are sensitive to heat. Thiamin is one of the least stable vitamins. It is easily lost in the juices from meat. It has been calculated that, on average, 20% of the thiamin content is lost during cooking. Riboflavin can be lost in meat juices; vitamin B6, folate
