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© pixabay, bykst |
It may be fussy of me to think of that, but I certainly find the title "Fresh vs Frozen Food" somewhat misleading. It's not about food in general they talk about, they only mention scientific research about produce - vegetables and fruits. Fish sticks are also frozen food, as well as frozen pizza and French fries. Are they good for your health? I don't think so, but it's also irrelevant in this case. I just find it too irresponsible to put such a vague title to anything that has to do with science - even if it's science for the public.
Alright, I agree that frozen vegetables may be more nutrient than the ones which are fresh but stored for too long or in an inappropriate way. There are indeed studies which confirm that, for example this one here. For instance, frozen spinach was comparable to the harvested one and better than the "fresh" spinach that you can get on the market.
Just one more remark, scientific truth also has its limitations. In the above mentioned study, they compared the Vitamin C content. Vitamin C is often cited as a measure of healthy food, like some magic spell. But this is not the only nutrient in food! Unfortunately, I couldn't find enough studies in the internet to compare their designs and conditions.
What I encountered, though, was the following statement:
"Although vitamin C can be readily lost during fresh storage, the content
of certain carotenoids and phenolics can actually increase during
suitable conditions of fresh storage."
In this case, the researchers tested how major antioxidants in fruits and vegetables are influenced by their processing. So fresh storage shouldn't necessarily mean loss of nutrients! But I regret to say that I was unable to access to whole article to check what they meant by suitable conditions.
There is another question I'm asking myself in the course of this topic. It's a whole new chapter, on which I may post later, but consider it as a teaser now. How much of these nutrients do our bodies really need? Because if a carrot from the market gives me enough, I don't need the double portion of its frozen version. Personally I would never prefer frozen carrots in that case, I just hate how they taste... Which brings us to another point: taste. Fresh vegetables mostly taste better than the frozen ones, if you don't store them for too long. They look better and also give you more options how to prepare them - whether they stay whole and stuffed, cut in halves or minced - the choice remains yours, and not of the producer of frozen packages.
Sooo... in my opinion, frozen is a good alternative. Frozen peas are better than canned peas and certainly much better than no peas at all. But for most vegetables and fruits, I would prefer the fresh alternative, given the choice.