An Answer to the Veggie Debate: Fresh vs. Frozen vs. Caned

             With most people starting to focus on their nutrition and a plethora of different information on diets and health foods out there it can be some what of a mystery of what is truly healthy.  When we look at the label of foods what actually constitutes health? If it’s sold at Whole Foods and another health food store is it necessarily healthy?  These are questions we should all be asking ourselves before jumping on the many healthy food fads that are out there.  One of those subjects is the debate about produce and what you’re actually getting nutrient wise between fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables. 

             A recent article I read shed some light on this subject.  It starts out by showing us some numbers in that “Americans typically only eat one-third of the RDA (three servings instead of nine)” so when it comes down to it “a vegetable in any form is better than no vegetable at all”.  Ideally we should all be striving to eat fresh organic produce.  That’s not always possible for many reasons.  The number one for a lot of us these days is that it can be expensive and with rising living costs many of us are forced to make the decision of higher grocery bill to eat organic or put that money towards other essential bills.  The second big reason is that for much of the country growing produce isn’t an option through the winter months.  Yes there is still the option for produce grown elsewhere at the grocery store during the winter but inevitably the produce won’t be as nutrient rich because of the process of growing and storing winter crops.  Come winter time the produce many of us are buying was harvested at the end of the growing season.  For many farms to sustain through the winter they harvest this produce before peak ripeness which as we all know it the ideal for having the most nutrient rich veggies we can.  During winter many farms are forced to pick before ripe and store the produce containers using supplemental ethylene gas to ripen the produce.  As the article point out this is not the best scenario because “Outward signs of ripening may still occur, but these vegetables will never have the same nutritive value as if they had been allowed to fully ripen on the vine”.

When it comes to frozen vegetables there are a lot of rumors out there that they are less nutrient rich than fresh, they are more nutrient rich than fresh, or their equal. In reality frozen vegetables may actually be more nutrient rich that the fresh vegetable on the shelves.  This is because of their preserving process.  Frozen vegetables are typically picked at peak ripeness.  They lose some of their nutrients when blanched in hot water or steamed but the “subsequent flash-freeze locks the vegetables in a relatively nutrient-rich state”. There for many times the frozen vegetables can be more nutrient rich depending on the time of the year or the farm they came from.  I say the farm they came from because if you’re buying from a local farm out of their farm store or stand they most likely are picking their produce at close to peak ripeness since the produce has a much shorter time period going from field to shelf. Also smaller local farms are obviously farming on a smaller scale, which mean it is easier for them to control growing conditions without the uses of massive amounts of pesticides and GMO seeds. A practice which the massive food producing farms can’t do without the high use of pesticides and GMO seeds.

Lastly are the caned vegetables.  Are canned vegetables better than no vegetables? Absolutely! Of the three categories though, caned definitely is the lowest on the list.  Unfortunately due to the preserving process in caned vegetables the nutrients are lost and subsequently lower in caned compared to both fresh and frozen.  Does this mean there are no nutrients in caned vegetables? Absolutely not! All it means is that you get more bang for your buck nutrient wise consuming fresh or frozen vegetables.

The articles bottom line which all of us should take account of is “When vegetables are in-season, buy them fresh and ripe. “Off-season,’ frozen vegetables will give you a high concentration of nutrients.  Choose packages marked with a USDA “U.S Fancy” shield, which designates produce of the best size, shape and color; vegetables of this standard also tend to be more nutrient rich than the lower grades “U.S No. 1” or “U.S. No. 2” Eat them soon after purchase: over many months, nutrients in frozen vegetables do inevitably degrade.  Finally, steam or microwave rather than boil your produce to minimize the loss of water-soluble vitamins”.

 

http://wisefitnesscentre.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/q-fresh-vs-frozen-vegetables-are-we.html