Frying these foods is actually good for you

Now steady on there - this isn't an endorsement of splashing out on that deep fat fryer you've been lusting after.

Frying food by-and-large isn't great for you. But frying some foods in a small amount of olive oil (around a tablespoon's worth) can actually unlock some incredible nutritional value.

Food expert Guy Crosby recently spoke to Business Insider about the little-known world of carotenoids: an organic pigment linked to reducing a range of chronic diseases. By exposing some food types to high temperatures of frying, you're actually breaking down these carotenoids, making it easier for your body to absorb them.

Take tomatoes. "In the fresh tomato most of these [carotenoid] pigments are all tied up with proteins," explains Crosby. "If you cook the tomato you break down the bonds between the proteins and the pigments - the lycopene - and you absorb about four times more lycopene into your blood from cooked tomatoes than from fresh tomatoes."

By frying the following food groups in a small amount of olive oil, you'll actually gain more from their forms of carotenoids than if you ate them raw.

And yes - chips are definitely still bad for you.

(Tables: Oregon State University)

[Via: Business Insider]