Nutrition Loss: Vegetable Nutrients in Fresh vs Frozen vs Canned Vegetables

Are you wondering if frozen or canned vegetables have the same nutrient content as fresh? Fresh is best for the most part. But…that’s “fresh” like out of your backyard garden, onto the plate and into your stomach all in the same day.

To start the comparison of fresh vs frozen vs canned, generally uncooked vegetables which are picked and then eaten have the highest nutrient content. So unless you have a garden out back, you’re not actually consuming “fresh”, as in maximum nutrition the veggie has.

Store boughten vegetables may have been trucked or flown over the course of a couple days.  Then they may sit around in a warehouse or the back of the store for another couple before you even have the opportunity to pick out a delicious edible for you.

So in considering fresh versus frozen or canned, time is a key hidden component for assessing nutrient implication.

In the canned or frozen contra arena, the quicker the processing takes place after a vegetable is cut, the more nutrition it retains. Allegedly, vegetables are either canned or frozen soon after harvest when their nutrient content is at its peak.

On the other hand, the processing itself has some inherent nutrient loss. For example, blanching herbaceous plants for enzyme destruction depreciates some vitamins a bit. Yet, whatever nutriment benefit is left supposedly is preserved.

Best practice is to go fresh first and leave canned as your last resort.

Once you’ve purchased fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, here are a couple important storage points to maximize its nutrient retention:

  • canned ~ store in a cool, dark place, use canning juice
  • frozen ~ eat within a reasonable storage time for that vegetable
  • raw ~ refrigerate, use ASAP, buy local, cook in small water amount

There could be some nutrient loss if canned veggies are exposed to high temperatures and frozen ones are kept in a fluctuating freezer.

Vegetables, whether its fresh, canned or frozen, that you boil to death in a large quantity of water loses their heat sensitive and water-soluble nutrients, such as:

Lightly steamed, stir-fried, roasted or microwaved is better versus boiled.

Basically, a high vegetable consumption is extremely important for total health and lowering cancer risk. So get them from whatever source works, mainly keep the heat and water to a minimum.

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