Medical Questions » Diet Questions » Question No. 1197
| Question: | Are frozen vegetables really better than fresh, vitamin-wise? |
| Answer: | Arguably so. That' s because there is a marginal loss of vitamins from freezing a food, and slight loss on stor- ing and then defrosting a food - say 10 to 20 per cent of nutrients depending on storage time. There' s then an additional loss of perhaps 20 per cent from boiling the vegetable. So, the total loss might be as much as 40 per cent from pea, to frozen pack, to plate.
So, fresh peas eaten raw would be best, but how long is it between you eating a food and the farmer picking it? Unless you eat very fresh vegetables and eat them raw or lightly cooked, the chances are your frozen vegetables are as fresh if not fresher than the so-called ' fresh' food you buy in a supermarket.
This is partly because vegetables are frozen very soon after picking. I certainly think that buying frozen is an excellent alternative when a vegetable is out of season. |
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