Good news: The salad dressing you may disdain for adding extra calories could actually be what makes the superfoods on your plate, well, super.
A recent study published in the scientific journal Food Nutrition concludes that oil-based dressings or sauces (including mayonnaise-based sauces) can help the body absorb kale’s valuable nutrients.
Kale has a number of beneficial compounds that promote overall well-being, but these nutrients are fat-soluble. That essentially means they break down only in the presence of a fat. In other words, it’s hard for the body to absorb the nutrients in kale — unless kale is eaten with fat.
Ruojie “Vanessa” Zhang, one of the study authors, explains in a summary of the findings:
“Kale is a nutrient-rich vegetable that contains carotenoids, including lutein, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, which have beneficial effects on overall health. The problem is our bodies have a hard time absorbing these nutrients because they are fat-soluble rather than water-soluble.”
Carotenoids are nutrient-rich pigments that give certain fruits and vegetables their color. They are linked to better vision, a stronger immune system and a lower risk of conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
In the study, researchers put kale through a simulated gastrointestinal tract model that mimics human digestion. They tested it several ways:
- Raw
- Cooked
- Raw or cooked with dressing or sauce
- Cooked in sauce
The results showed that raw kale on its own had very low nutrient absorption, and just cooking the kale actually worsened absorption.
But once researchers added an oil-based “nanoemulsion” sauce — basically a finely mixed oil-based dressing, although not one you or I have in the fridge — the model absorbed far more of the carotenoids that give kale much of its health reputation.
This remained the case whether the kale was raw or cooked, and whether the sauce was added before or after cooking. This suggests that cooking kale in an oil-based sauce works about as well as tossing the sauce on afterward, so you have flexibility in how you prepare it.
Kale also carries vitamins C and E and other plant compounds that support overall health.
But again — they’re largely fat-soluble. So, choking kale down plain isn’t as helpful as some may think.
Instead, you can (thankfully) use a modest amount of olive oil vinaigrette, an oil-based sauce or a mayonnaise-based dressing to make the nutrients in kale more accessible to your body.
Learn more about why you might want to include kale in your regular diet in “5 Nutrients That Might Stop Alzheimer’s — and Foods Rich in Them.”
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