Innovative industrial cooking of broccoli for improving health-promoting compounds

© 2016 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Broccoli has been described as an extraordinary health promoting Brassica specie. There are a great number of epidemiological trials and laboratory studies supporting this statement. Broccoli consumption has shown numerous beneficial properties such as having chemopreventive, antioxidant, antitumor, antimutagenicity, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral properties as well as resulting in reduction of coronary heart disease risks. These properties are mainly related to its high content of phenolics compounds, glucosinolates (isothiocyanates), carotenoids, vitamins, unsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibre, minerals, etc. However, cooking treatments, like the ones used by the industry for preparation of Fifth Range products, may induce reductions of such bioactive compounds. For that reason, several studies have recently focused determining the effects of conventional and innovative cooking treatments on these biocompounds in order to establish the best processing conditions for better maintenance of the health-promoting properties of this vegetable.