Lentils are perhaps one of the spoon dishes that I most enjoy eating as soon as the temperatures begin to drop a little. Their versions when it comes to cooking them seem endless and, whether you like them with chorizo or you prefer them with vegetables, both are equally tasty. Of course, beyond being a very comforting recipe, it turns out that it is also especially healthy, although there is a way to take advantage of them and get greater benefit for our body and that is to add a little vinegar.
This tip is recommended by nutritionists and it is for a simple reason: foods rich in vitamin C or with a high degree of acidity, if taken together with legumes, help a lot with the assimilation of the iron that this food has. In fact, there are scientific studies that indicate how the presence of vitamin C could increase the absorption of non-heme iron present not only in legumes, but in other foods of plant origin.
Scientific research also insists that, in turn, the presence of vitamin C could inhibit the impact of phytates that tend to be found largely in lentils, chickpeas and other foods of plant origin that are great sources of iron. In the case of vinegar, due to its acidity, when we add it to the lentils, what we do is subsequently help to stimulate the secretion of gastric acid and in this way promote the solubility and uptake of iron in our body.
Some studies carried out in rodents have observed that vinegar and acetic acid can promote the absorption of iron when consumed together with foods that provide this mineral. For this reason, dressing a legume salad with a little vinegar or lemon juice can be a simple way to improve the use of iron present in ingredients such as chickpeas, lentils or beans.
This same principle can be applied to other dishes made with legumes. If we prepare chickpeas in the form of a stew, stew or stir-fry, we can accompany them with foods rich in vitamin C or certain organic acids, since their presence in the same food can help the body make better use of iron of plant origin.
For this reason, nutritionists insist on adding a splash of vinegar to the lentils or, if you prefer, a little lemon or orange juice, as well as other foods that are great sources of vitamin C, because in addition to helping you digest, they help you better absorb the iron in these legumes.
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