Wanna Fight Cancer? Don't Chop Your Carrots

Carrots preserve 25% more of their cancer-fighting properties if they're not chopped up before cooking, according to a new study. Researchers found that the amount of falcarinol—proven to reduce the risk of tumors by a third in rats—was higher in carrots that had been boiled whole. Carrots that were cooked whole also scored far higher in taste tests, the Independent reports.

"Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are being cooked," the lead researcher explained. "By cooking them whole and chopping them up afterward you are locking in both taste and nutrients." (More carrots stories.)