If you want to get the most carotenes out of your eggs then scrambled certainly seems not the way to do it. And why would you care? Well, the carotenes in eggs help protect against age related eye sight deterioration.
Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers wanted to see the effect of cooking on the bioavailability of the carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin in eggs. They had previously shown the change in carotene profile caused by different preparation methods but this time used an artificial stomach to see if the cooking methods affected how much of the carotenes could get into your body.
It turns out that scrambled egg has significantly less bioavailable carotenes than boiled eggs with fried eggs sitting somewhere in the middle. The digestive stability of the carotenes was not affected by the method of cooking.
The carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin are important as they have been shown to be beneficial against age-related macular degeneration (AMD) a deterioration of the eye. They are also found in fruit and vegetables including green leafy vegetables such as spinach. However, as the carotenes are soluble in lipids as opposed to water the “matrix” of the egg means that much more is available to the body when we eat it compared to that from spinach.
Indeed, we have blogged previously that eating lipid rich avocado with beta carotene enhances the amount that can be absorbed.