Dr. Tom Johnson Cooking carrots can improve their nutritional value. The August 2000 edition of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry reported that cooked, pureed carrots have higher levels of beta-carotene and phenolic acids, nutrients that are antioxidants. Heating carrots with the peels increased the antioxidants by a third.
Cooking probably breaks the plant cells open and allows the antioxidants to be more available.
A recent study of elderly men and women and another of young women have shown that people remember things better if they have eaten versus when they are fasting. So, heed the old adage and eat breakfast before heading out into the world to learn things.