9 replies to this topic

[A941]

Are frozen or canned fruits and vegetables as good as fresh fruits/vegetables?

Are vitamines lost?
Do they have the same Health benefits like the "real thing" ?

[PWAIN]

Apparently canned and frozen is bad...

The researchers also discovered that canned and frozen fruit increased the risk of dying by 17 per cent, and fruit juice was found to have no significant benefit.

Double your five-a-day fruit and veg to live longer, study finds:

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/double-your-fiveaday-fruit-and-veg-to-live-longer-study-finds-20140401-35v62.html

[A941]

10 times a day? Holy...

What could be said about backed or cooked potatoes?
Are raw Vegetables and fruits the best?

[ta5]

Apparently canned and frozen is bad...
 

The researchers also discovered that canned and frozen fruit increased the risk of dying by 17 per cent, and fruit juice was found to have no significant benefit.

 

Well, that's disappointing. I can believe that about canned, but I doubt frozen. I always thought frozen was possibly even better than fresh, depending on how long "fresh" has been sitting. Here's what Dr Weil says:

 

The advantage of frozen fruits and vegetables is that they usually are picked when they're ripe, and then blanched in hot water to kill bacteria and stop enzyme activity that can spoil food. Then they're flash frozen, which tends to preserve nutrients. If you can afford it, buy frozen fruits and vegetables stamped USDA "U.S. Fancy," the highest standard and the one most likely to deliver the most nutrients. As a rule, frozen fruits and vegetables are superior nutritionally to those that are canned because the canning process tends to result in nutrient loss. (The exceptions include tomatoes and pumpkin.) When buying frozen fruits and vegetables, steer away from those than have been chopped, peeled or crushed; they will generally be less nutritious.

 

Here's the study from the article that Pwain posted. The full text is available. They didn't differentiate between canned and frozen.

 

J Epidemiol Community Health. 2014 Mar 31.

Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality: analysis of Health Survey for England data.

Oyebode O1, Gordon-Dseagu V, Walker A, Mindell JS.

Governments worldwide recommend daily consumption of fruit and vegetables. We examine whether this benefits health in the general population of England.

METHODS: Cox regression was used to estimate HRs and 95% CI for an association between fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular mortality, adjusting for age, sex, social class, education, BMI, alcohol consumption and physical activity, in 65 226 participants aged 35+ years in the 2001-2008 Health Surveys for England, annual surveys of nationally representative random samples of the non-institutionalised population of England linked to mortality data (median follow-up: 7.7 years).

RESULTS: Fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with decreased all-cause mortality (adjusted HR for 7+ portions 0.67 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.78), reference category <1 portion). This association was more pronounced when excluding deaths within a year of baseline (0.58 (0.46 to 0.71)). Fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with reduced cancer (0.75 (0.59-0.96)) and cardiovascular mortality (0.69 (0.53 to 0.88)). Vegetables may have a stronger association with mortality than fruit (HR for 2 to 3 portions 0.81 (0.73 to 0.89) and 0.90 (0.82 to 0.98), respectively). Consumption of vegetables (0.85 (0.81 to 0.89) per portion) or salad (0.87 (0.82 to 0.92) per portion) were most protective, while frozen/canned fruit consumption was apparently associated with increased mortality (1.17 (1.07 to 1.28) per portion).

CONCLUSIONS: A robust inverse association exists between fruit and vegetable consumption and mortality, with benefits seen in up to 7+ portions daily. Further investigations into the effects of different types of fruit and vegetables are warranted.

PMID: 24687909

 

From the full text:

Nutritionally, frozen fruit is generally held to be equivalent to fresh fruit. However, most canned fruit contains high sugar levels; fruit packed not in syrup but in fruit juice (which still contains fructose but less sugar overall) is less available and more expensive. Because of the questions asked, consumption of canned fruit cannot be distinguished from frozen fruit. Analysis of National Diet and Nutrition Survey data would enable examination of dietary patterns to elucidate, albeit on smaller samples, the relative contributions of frozen and of canned fruit to ‘frozen and canned’ consumption, and of the overall dietary patterns and other characteristics of those who eat frozen and canned fruit, to examine possible explanations for this unexpected finding.

 

Unless someone presents more evidence, I will continue to believe frozen is not too bad, and avoid canned. 

[nupi]

Equating frozen and canned is a rather retarded way to do statistics, really. From the data I've seen, fresh and frozen is about equal nutrient wise (some studies put fresh at a slight advantage others put frozen at an advantage). Convenience dictates I will stay with frozen for most fruits and vegetables (apples, pears, bananas, avocados might be the obvious examples where frozen barely works/adds very little convenience).

 

I will keep eating frozen and avoid canned (aside tomatoes).

Edited by nupi, 09 April 2014 - 09:37 AM.

[matter_of_time]

Frozen fruit

Frozen fruit is more or less the same as fresh foods.

 

Canned fruit

The problem with canned fruits is the sugar which is added. Especially canned citrus fruits are not healthy.

 

Frozen vegetables

They are more or less the same like fresh vegetables

 

Canned vegetables

Some canned vegetables are more or less the same, like asparagus, artichokes, beans. 

[Flex]

Dont forget the bisphenol A and Phthalate content in the inner-side of some cans.

Bte, they can also occur in frzoen Fruits/Vegetables, depending on the Package.

[traceca]

Vitamins and nutrients in foods will reduce up to time, process and preservation. The fresh is the best, frozen and canned is OK but should eat it when you can't find fresh fruits and vegetables.

[Kalliste]

I suspect frozen food is superior. So called fresh fruit spends at best days and at worst weeks before you buy it and eat it. Some new freezing techs, like running a small current through the batch, will make it even more effective. Canned fruit can be a real sugar-bomb, the study equating the two seems very doubtful due to that.

[Jun Han]

Despite not absolutely corresponding to the title of this thread, I believe a simple 2-minute video from asapSCIENCE on youtube entitled "Fresh vs Frozen Food" may give all a sense of difference between fresh food and frozen food for further comparison with the aforementioned canned food. This video, though, speaks from the sense of nutritional standpoint.