TOSome foods go well together. It happens because the combination enhances the nutritional properties or because the advantages of one cushion the defects of the other. As in life, when love can be a support or when a discordant couple ends up finding their balance. Then there are the disastrous combinations, in weddings and at the table, but that’s material for another article. Here are some combinations that work.
Wholemeal spaghetti and clams
For reasons that are not yet entirely clear, the absorption of non-heme iron, typical of plants, increases when it is combined with the iron characteristic of animal sources, heme. An excellent combination occurs in wholemeal spaghetti with clams (which provide approximately 21 milligrams of the mineral per portion). We specify wholemeal, because part of the iron is lost in refined pasta.
Parmesan and artichokes
The limit of many cheeses is the high content of saturated fats, which are jointly responsible for hypercholesterolemia when consumed in excess. The advice for those who want to consume them (but without exaggeration) is always to pair them with vegetables. Artichokes, for example, contain a soluble fibre, inulin, which creates a gel in the digestive system capable of trapping a portion of the fat in the parmesan flakes with which they are sometimes served.
Rocket and lemon
In the imagination, lemon is associated with vitamin C, which is advantageous in itself, because it supports the immune system, but which also helps the body assimilate non-heme iron. A little juice to dress the salad allows our intestine to absorb more mineral from the rocket, one of the vegetables that are richest in it, together with green radicchio, chicory and turnip greens.
Pizza and grilled vegetables
If the restaurant serves Margherita with a 00 flour base, the trick to reducing the glycemic impact is to order a side of grilled vegetables or a salad. Vegetable fibers are able to slow down the absorption of sugars during digestion.
Lentils and fresh chili pepper
A plate of lentils theoretically has more iron (6.6 milligrams) than a horse steak. The limit is that our body can store just 10-20 percent of non-heme iron, because it has to transform it in order to be able to absorb it. Heme iron from animal sources, however, does not need any modification. And here comes vitamin C, very abundant in fresh chili peppers (but not in dried ones), to help. Its advantage is that it simplifies the conversion of non-heme iron, making it bioavailable.
Wholemeal flour and sourdough
In wholemeal flours, non-heme iron is partly bound to phytic acid, which reduces its bioavailability. Leavening with mother yeast, however, activates a group of enzymes, called phytases, which release the mineral. Rapid leavening is not as effective.
Ragout and peas
Red meat shouldn’t be eaten often, as we know. A tip for omnivores is to add peas to the classic ragù. Legumes have phytosterols, which contribute to absorption with cholesterol from meat, because they have a similar chemical structure. And they also have fiber, which reduces the absorption of saturated fats from the ragout.
Tomatoes and oil
The tomato is red thanks to the lycopene, studied for its protective effects on health. The molecule belongs to the carotenoid family, whose bioavailability increases thanks to heat, which breaks the walls of plant cells and releases the compounds. The addition of extra virgin olive oil favors the absorption of lycopene, in the sense that the fat-soluble compound needs the company of fatty substances to move into our body.
Turmeric and pepper
Speaking of pigments, it is curcumin that dyes turmeric yellow-orange, a favorite on Asian menus and for some time also appreciated in Italy. The hope is that the use of the spice in the kitchen combats inflammatory conditions, as a series of studies would suggest. But so that curcumin is better assimilated during digestionit is necessary to give it the right combination: a grind of black pepper ensures piperine, a molecule that enhances the bioavailability of the yellow pigment.
Lettuce and avocado
The fats (unsaturated, therefore good) in avocado enhance the absorption of some vitamins and of a phytocompound, much studied in the scientific field and present in lettuce, quercetin. The same result is obtained when the salad is dressed with oil, as per Mediterranean tradition.
Beans and croutons
Proteins of animal origin contain the complete bouquet of amino acids, i.e. the structural units that our body uses to produce other proteins. Legumes have only part of these building blocks in sufficient quantities, but the amino acids deficient in vegetable proteins are contained in the protein fraction of cereals. It is by combining pasta or bread and legumes that it is possible to create a meal with a protein intake comparable in quality to that of a steak. Bean soup with croutons, barley and chickpeas, rice and peas.
Pan and onion
If the Mediterranean diet is considered one of the best dietary models in the world, the credit goes not only to the ingredients and the abundance of vegetables but also to the way in which the dishes are cooked. Among the classic techniques of the gastronomic tradition, there is the sautéed. The first study that re-evaluated it was the Predimeda famous investigation into cardiovascular prevention through the Mare nostrum table. With the pan frying, the polyphenols of the extra virgin olive oil remain present in good quantities and the quercetin in the onion even increases a little compared to the raw bulb.
There quercetin it is a phytocompound that seems to activate a protective action against the degenerative and inflammatory processes of the cell. The steps for a light frying result are these: onion but also spring onions, shallots or leeks, finely chopped so that they soften quickly, to be added as soon as the oil is just heated, leaving to flavor for a few minutes on a low heat and then adding a drizzle of water, so that the temperature in the pot or pan is lowered.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and science communicator. On iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you can find his podcast series The good that I want.
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