Let me start by asking not to be bashed for wanting to incorporate some fruit into the eating plan. I will refer you to the “forbidden fruit” article.
Now the question: I know it is better to have an actual piece of fruit. I also know the last thing you want is the canned fruit in heavy syrup. What about the canned fruit in natural juices? For example, chunk pineapple in unsweetened pineapple juice lists the ingredients as pineapple and unsweetened pineapple juice. Opinions?
Fruit is good. I consume a few pieces each day. I try to stick to whole fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, strawberries, mango, etc.), but I do buy pineapple chunks in their own juice. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this.
Eat your fruit and veggies each day. It does a body good!
What I would worry about is if the canning process damages any good things in fruit. Does anyone know if things like antioxidants are damaged from this? Vitamin C is supposed to be fragile, too - what about this?
I go by the ‘anything is better than nothing’ rule. Fresh fruit is best, but if you eat canned at least you’re getting fruit.
Canning is a heat process, so there are probably plenty of vitamins that are affected.
I like frozen fruit as well. I never buy fresh, as it usually ends up going bad before I get around to eating it all.
I agree, fruit is good stuff.
I prefer fresh but living in minnesota there are just some things not available fresh here, especially depending on the season.
So some times i resort to frozen or canned. Prefer frozen over canned but I have noticed some things can be canned and still decent.
What about good ol’ fashioned canned cherry pie filling? Mmmmmm
Actually, fresh fruit will lose far more vitamins and phyto nutrients through shipping and the amount of time it sits in a grocery store and in your home before you eat it than food will lose during the canning process. In fact, in the majority of cases, it can be demonstrated that canned fruits and vegitables that are canned without added sugar, salt etc are in fact a healthier choice than so called fresh produce, which is never as fresh as canned, unless you pick it yourself and eat it right away. Produce that is canned is typically harvested and canned right away, preserving nutrients.
BTW, a little Googling will turn up plenty of information to back this up.
Has anyone ever found a resource the gives the breakdowns of the carbs found in fruits? IMO, this would be a very valuable thing to have.
Also, here are reggie and seafood nutrition fact sheets:
http://www.wholefoods.com/healthinfo/pro_list-veg.html
http://www.wholefoods.com/healthinfo/seafoodnutritioninfo.html
CGB,
But as michelle said, the canning process uses heat, which can destroy many nutrients. The most obvious that comes to mind would be vitamin C. I’ve also heard that the lining used in cans is actually carcinogenic, for what that’s worth.
How do the nutrients get destroyed with fresh produce? I would guess it would have to do with enzymes over-ripening it a bit, which supposedly reduces the nutrient content. Is this what you mean?
This is really minute, but I’m trying to figure out which is worse: A slight reduction of nutrients from fresh produce or an elimination of a source of raw foods (enzymes).
I’d love to see some articles on this. I don’t think that saying to do a google search really backs it up, though. You say that to support just about anything 
It almost sounds like some weird thing that is made up by the companies selling the stuff. Like the sugar industry disagrees with dietary recommendations, and that 25% of calories can come from sugar with no harmful effects! I believe the soda industry also said that drinking soda can help reduce cavities because of the preservatives in the soda!
CGB is correct, although, I’ve read that frozen fruits and vegetables are higher in nutrients than both fresh and canned. So I would go with frozen if this is a major concern.
I think the main idea is to consume fruit and vegetables and not worry so much whether fresh, frozen or canned is better than the other. The first step is to just eat! Second step would be what is most easily available and convenient. Third step is personal preference and taste.
“I don’t think that saying to do a google search really backs it up, though. You say that to support just about anything :)”
NeilG, can you see how some people would find remarks like this obnoxious?
Ok, let me clarify:
I’m looking for a resource that has the glucose:fructose ratios of fruits.
And no one give me any crap about minutia, I’m curious about this.
Brain,
“NeilG, can you see how some people would find remarks like this obnoxious?”
Oh shit. I accidentally left out a word there. I meant to say this:
“You CAN say that to support just about anything :)”
Sorry CGB! Bad error on my part. I wasn’t trying to say that all you do is support claims with google searches.
Sorry!
I’ve also read that frozen fruits and vegetables have more nutrients because most companies’ flash freeze their products. Once a fruit or vegetable is picked I believe it begins to oxidize, thus losing some of its nutritional value. This is why fresh juicing is better than buy pre made juices in a health food store.
Nate is right about frozen, but canned fruit and vegetables aren’t too far behind in terms of quality, but who here would choose anything over fresh? I love the taste of fresh and won’t generally compromise, although I do buy canned pineapple when I don’t foresee having the time to prepare a whole one, but you have to be careful to not get screwed with added syrups. There is also some concern about the presence of tin in canned products and this can be a concern for some. Lead is no longer a problem in North America like it once was, snce lead solder isn’t used any longer, I don’t believe. Anyway, you guys already know all this.
Neil, yeah, it was a cop-out as I was busy at work and unable to take the time to reference my sources. I don’t generally like to say what I did, as I believe sources are important, as we all know, especially with so much information of often dubious sources floating around. However, I will attempt to gather up some information and post it here, likely tomorrow as I am quite busy today at work. It’s actually pretty interesting to me and evidently to others, so give me some time. I will say that it is fairly well understood that produce does lose nutrient value as the ripening process preoceeds, so keep this in mind with produce in your home. Most of us enjoy ripened fruit more than unripened, so I make up for it by eating 2 nice ripe bananas!
Akheron, just like you to worry about such minutia. Just eat the damn food haha