Food & Drink >
Fruits & Vegetables
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedAre canned vegetables as healthy as fresh ones?
Results so far:
| Yes | 20% | 67 votes | Total: 330 votes | |
| No | 80% | 263 votes |
Yes
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesFor many years the general consensus was that fresh vegetables were healthier than processed vegetables however studies have shown that frozen vegetables can be as healthy as or even healthier than fresh. Simply browsing through a nutrient analysis for fresh and frozen vegetables indicate comparable values with sometimes frozen vegetables edging out fresh.
Before the advent of modern processing practices, most produce was grown locally and were at the market or in the pot within 24 to 48 hours. We canned' summer vegetables at home to use in the winter or stored them in the root cellar. What was canned lost some of their nutrients because of the high temperatures used in canning. Root vegetables stored in the cellar lost more nutrients the longer they were stored.
Produce is shipped from around the globe and from harvest to your pot can take up to two weeks losing nutrients along the way. In transit, to local distribution points, to the retailers and to the point of sale, waiting to be purchased and then into the pot, nutrients are lost at each step especially vitamin C, some B vitamins and carotene.
Enter modern food processing where vegetables are washed, blanched and frozen within hours of harvesting, sometimes in the field, thus preserving most of their nutrients. In commercial freezing, produce is not cooked for long periods of time at high temperatures but to preserve color, vegetables are immersed in vats of boiling water for a few seconds or minutes to preserve color, texture and to make peeling easier prior to flash freezing locking in the minerals and vitamins. The proximity of the freezing process to the fields means that vegetables can be picked at the peak of their ripeness ensuring optimal nutrition.
In order to get the best of your fruits and vegetables grow your own but that is not realistic, so whenever possible, purchase local produce that has been in the system for only a few days from harvest to point of sale and freeze your own. Check out the USDA web site to learn about safe canning and preserving methods. It should be noted that the longer produce is kept whether it is frozen or not the nutritional value decreases.
Remember according to the USDA and the American Dietetics Association the important thing is to get at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day whether fresh, frozen or even canned. The majority of dietitians as well as qualified and credentialed food professionals will recommend vegetables regardless of them being fresh, frozen or canned although fresh can be more aesthetically pleasing. It all boils down to your personal preference.
Learn more about this author, Laura Dunkley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
The answer to that is both Yes and No.
In an ideal world, we would all simply go to the garden when everything we need is ripe and at the peak of freshness and nutrition, and pluck it off the tree, vine or out of the ground. In that case, fresh would be the healthiest and the tastiest. And in some cases, there are those of us who do. But for most for us who live in a world of supermarkets and uber-grocery stores and we cannot afford that luxury.
In that case we have a few alternatives. One is that we can purchase "fresh" produce, either commercially or organically grown at the local supermarket. In this case, the produce (unless locally grown, which is the exception to this rule) has often been grown on large-scale farms, picked green, shipped over great distances (over state and county lines), artificially ripened before displaying on the produce rack and then put out for display. The items in question have most often been shipped green in order to prevent costly loss due to spoilage, since shipping takes time and ripe vegetables bruise easily and spoil quickly when handled improperly. Chances are also good that the produce has been treated with chemicals to prevent spoilage and infestation, blight, pests and what have you. Chances are also good that the vegetables have been grown using some form of chemical enhancement or genetic manipulation of some kind: the US produce industry has been doing that for years. Organic produce is an exception to this practice also, generally speaking.
Farmer's market display locally grown produce, in which case the vegetables are picked when fresh and put out for display. The nature of growth enhancement or chemical pesticide use might be he same as the above example, but in most cases the produce is picked when nearly ripe rather than green. Organic produce generally uses neither, although "organic" can still be grown using more natural varieties of pesticides, and may or may not be locally grown: in which case the vegetables are still picked green prior to shipping.
Canned vegetables are always picked at the peek of freshness and ripeness before canning, at which time the produce is treated and then packaged. This can result in a strange paradigm: that of having a canned vegetable that is technically riper than a fresh vegetable, and possible healthier and better tasting. This is generally not something that is widely known nor understood, nor is the fresh produce industry hollering about it. Having been a chef and in the restaurant industry for nearly three decades, this is simply a fact that one accepts. But as a consumer, it presents an interesting conundrum.
Would that we all still living in the garden as was originally intended.
In any case, there is nothing bad about getting fresh produce, or canned or frozen for that matter; provided you are aware of just what it is you are getting and how the vegetables have been treated. The loss of nutritional value when a vegetable is actually picked green is minimal, and canning and freezing methods in manufacturing have dramatically improved over the last several decades thanks to consumer awareness. I would be more concerned with prepackaged and frozen meals, which make liberal use of MSG (as do most salad dressings). Having more vegetables in your diet, whether frozen, fresh or canned is always beneficial, generally speaking. It is certainly tastier.
Of course having yourself a nice vegetable garden or greenhouse is nice too. My parents did and as a child I enjoyed fresh vine-ripened tomatoes as well as fresh rhubarb (strawberry rhubarb pie anyone?). Sadly I do not have a green thumb and do that today, so I resort to visiting the local uber-grocery or farmer's market. And I confess, having back-ups of onion-and-pepper-med leys in my freezer and stewed tomatoes in my pantry have become a regular thing.
Along with fresh limes in my crisper drawer.
Learn more about this author, Neal Banks.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
