In a health point of view what is the difference between eating frozen and fresh vegetables?

Question

are frozen vegetables bad for you?

Answer 1

Often frozen vegetables have even more nutrients than fresh vegetables because frozen vegetables are harvested and frozen at their peak. Often fresh vegetables lose some of their nutrients during shipping and in shelf life. Sometimes canned vegetables have more nutrients that either fresh or frozen, but a downside is that they often are canned with a large amount of salt. Check out the following article: Which is Best?
Canned, Frozen or Fresh?

By Pat Kendall, Ph.D., R.D.
Food Science and Human Nutrition Specialist
Colorado State University Cooperative Extension
January 22, 1997

Which is better for your health: fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables? The answer is: Any and all.

Canned fruits and vegetables often are considered nutritionally inferior to their fresh and frozen counterparts. While this may be true regarding sugar and salt content, it's not true when it comes to other nutrients. In fact, in a recent study completed at the University of Illinois, many of the canned fruits and vegetables evaluated contained as much or more of certain nutrients than their fresh and frozen counterparts.

For example, most brands of canned apricots, spinach and pumpkin provided more vitamin A per serving than their fresh- cooked counterparts. Also, canned asparagus, potatoes and spinach tended to outrank or equal fresh-cooked varieties for vitamin C. On the other hand, fresh-cooked tomatoes tended to be higher in vitamin C and fresh-cooked carrots higher in vitamin A per serving than canned or frozen types.

One reason canned (and frozen) fruits and vegetables sometimes rank nutritionally superior to fresh produce is they're usually processed immediately after harvest, when nutrient content is at its peak. This is especially true when it comes to the vitamin C found in green vegetables. The longer a green vegetable sits on a truck or in the supermarket, the lower its vitamin C content. Because they are more acidic, fresh (as well as frozen and canned) fruits are less susceptible to loss of vitamin C during storage.

This is not to say there aren't downsides to eating canned versus fresh and frozen products. Canned vegetables are notoriously high in sodium and canned fruits packed in syrup are high in sugar. However, with the growing popularity of low sodium and low sugar versions of products, most manufacturers now offer low-sodium and salt-free versions of their canned vegetables. In addition, juice-packed fruits generally are available at a cost similar to fruits packed in syrup.

The other downside is taste. Many fruit and vegetable lovers simply prefer the taste, texture and look of fresh and fresh-cooked produce. Canned and fresh-cooked green beans simply are not the same product. Nor are canned, frozen and fresh- cooked corn.

Still, the University of Illinois study underscores a message nutritionists have long emphasized: canned and frozen produce is a nutritionally sound alternative to fresh fruits and veggies. Frozen and canned products are particularly good to have on hand for times when you can't get to the store for fresh products or when fresh fruits and vegetables are out of season or out of your price range.

For more information, contact your local Colorado State University Cooperative Extension office.

Answer 2

Frozen vegetables are typically much better, unless you are buying locally from a radius of about 50 miles. When you buy fresh tomatoes, they werent picked yesterday. The truck cant drive that fast from the farm to the packaging plant in Mexico to your neighborhood grocer in a day. Most fresh vegetables were picked before they were ripe and then were ripened on the way to the store through artificial means like gas in the case of tomatoes. Whereas frozen vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness and frozen immediately. A vegetable cannot gain nutritional value sitting in a truck. Sometimes vegetables that are frozen lose some of their texture that we love and thats why many prefer fresh.

Answer 3

it all really depends on your source of fresh fruit and vegetables, if you know that they are freshly picked and not been stored for more than 2 days then fresh is always best. However most vegetables that are store bought are not that fresh and the nutritional value will be lower. Vitamin c in particular is destroyed rather quickly upon storage. Remember, storing them in the fridge also deminishes the nutritional quality too. You would need to grow your own or at least buy them every day or 2 from a reputable source for the greatest benefits from fresh. Quite surprisingly frozen vegetables actually have a better nutritional content than fresh for this reason, they are picked at their peak and processed very quickly so the vitamins are locked in. Canned vegetables often have quite a bit of salt in them and it is best to only use salt reduced products.

Answer 4

Frozen vegetables are a close second to fresh, health-wise. If fresh is not available, then frozen is a MUCH better choice than canned. As someone else mentioned, frozen veggies are just briefly blanched - not overly cooked like canned veggies. Most of the nutrients are still intact, and they're not overly seasoned and salted like canned.

Answer 5

I think that fresh is always the best choice. Frozen is worlds better than canned though. So if you can't get certain fresh veggies during a certain time of the year...frozen is the way to go.

Answer 6

Well, the fresh veggies definitely taste a lot better than frozen. I imagine they may lose a little nutritional value in the freezing process, but not very much, and frozen veggies are certainly better for you than no veggies at all.

Answer 7

Frozen vegetables are just blanched, to preserve freshness.

Answer 8

Frozen is actually better. The reason being is that they are blanched to kill bacteria, then flash forzen within hours after being picked. Fresh veggies begin to deteriorate as soon as they are picked and hold up well as long as they are kept cool.

Answer 9

Fresh is always better than frozen,frozen is better than canned and anything is better then nothing.

Answer 10

Not unless they are already bad. Hard to eat fresh corn in january.