Fresh vs Frozen Veggies: Which Are More Nutritious?

It is a known fact that fruit and veggies play one of the main roles in everyone’s diet. Those, who consume good amounts of fruit and veggies every day receive all necessary vitamins and nutrients, and have lower chances to have such diseases as stroke, cancer and other health problems. But it is not always possible to deliver fresh gifts of nature right to our tables, and that is the time when we pick up some frozen fruit or vegetables to get them in our diet. But what is the best option? Fresh veggies vs frozen veggies, who wins?

12 years ago the FDA confirmed that frozen veggies and fruit have not less of nutritional properties than fresh ones. However, recently a group of scientists from the Institute of Food Research came to a conclusion that frozen veggies actually have GREATER amounts of useful elements and nutrients than fresh ones. The specialists point on the fact that sometimes it takes up to 2 weeks till so called “fresh” fruit and veggies are consumed. At the same time, frozen fruit and veggies are processed shortly after being picked, thus they have more of useful elements preserved.

“The nutritional content of fresh vegetables begins to deteriorate from the minute they are picked. This means that by the time they end up on our plate, although we may think we’re reaping the vegetable’s full nutritional benefits, this is often not the case,” Dr. S. Schenker, an experienced nutritionist, comments. The study showed that so called “fresh” veggies we can buy in a grocery shop or a  market lose up to 45% of their nutritional value by the time we consume them. In particular, after 16 days of being stored in good conditions, green beans lose up to 45% of their nutritional value, cauliflower and broccoli – about 25%, and carrots – up to 10%.

That is why many nutritionists recommend using more of frozen fruit and vegetables in our daily diet. As a rule, veggies and fruit “…are frozen at their peak ripeness,” says Keri Gans, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “With fresh, you don’t know how long it has been since it was picked. Also, frozen vegetables will keep in the freezer without going bad. Since they are already cut up, it makes it easy for the cook.” However, it is not worth giving up on fresh veggies and fruit, because the process of freezing and storing frozen foods is still damaging to the nutritional content.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

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