Frying is a vilified form of cooking, but when it comes to vegetables, it may make produce healthier. Researchers from the University of Granada cooked a few vegetables commonly found in the Mediterranean diet in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to see how it affected the various nutritional profiles. Their findings, published in the journal Food Chemistry, demonstrated the oil’s ability to enhance phenols in vegetables — healthy chemicals that work to protect cells, and decrease the risk of developing cancer, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (vision loss).
