Evaluating Ascorbic Acid Preservation Across Different Cooking Techniques

Overview

Vitamin C is a crucial variable needed in the human body in order for it to fruition accordingly. However, when food is cooked, the concentration level of vitamin C can be significantly decreased, resulting in less nutritious foods humans intake, possibly causing many health deficiencies. My scientific question is; Which cooking method preserves the most Vitamin C in foods? Using research completed on the value of Vitamin C and its response to heat and water, I developed my hypothesis; If broccoli is cooked using methods that require a lot of heat and water, then the amount of Vitamin C in broccoli will significantly decrease because vitamin C is a water-soluble and heat sensitive nutrient, resulting in the vitamin C to be destroyed through leaching and heat, making the broccoli less nutritious.In this experiment, I cooked 300 mL of organic broccoli using five different cooking methods. Then for each cooking method, I used an Ascorbic Acid Test Strip to calculate the Vitamin C concentration level in the cooked broccoli sample and compared the results for each cooking technique to identify the differences. This was repeated five times to ensure accurate and consistent data results. In my results, sauteing was proved to preserve the most Vitamin C when compared to the other cooking methods, causing it to be the most nutritious among the five cooking methods. In contrast, air-frying contained the least amount, resulting in the vitamin C level to decrease significantly. To conclude, with my results my hypothesis was proven correct.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology (Junior Division) · Entry J-04-15

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