Question: Does cutting fruits and vegetables cause nutrition loss?
Is it true that preparing salads and cutting fruits and vegetables in advance allows the nutrients and vitamins to leave the food more rapidly than if the veggies were left whole and uncut before eating? I have also heard this notion is simply a way of preserving the freshness of the food.
Should I wait to prepare my salads the moment before eating them? Please clarify the best (and most nutritious) way of eating raw fruits and veggies.
Susan - About.com User
Answer: The best way to store fruits and vegetables like apples, oranges, grapefruit, potatoes and other produce is with the skin, rinds, and peelings intact. Once the protective peels or coverings of fruits and vegetables are cut, the fruits and vegetables begin to degrade and lose vitamin C. This nutrient loss doesn't really occur immediately, however, because it may take up to five or six days to show any major vitamin loss as long as cut fruits are stored in the refrigerator. After this time, fruits have been shown to lose 10 to 25 of vitamin C and carotenoids, but not other phytochemicals.
This five or six day period in the refrigerator is also about the same time it would take for the cut fruit to spoil and become unusable anyway. Once you see that your cut and stored fruit looks spoiled, it has also lost some of its nutritional content. According to the US FDA, cut or peeled vegetables will lose about half of their vitamin content in one to two weeks.
You don't have to wait until the last moment to cut fruits and vegetables for your salads, but be sure you keep them stored in air-tight containers in your refrigerator. Having fresh fruits and vegetables ready to eat in your refrigerator may make it easier for you to make healthy choices at snack time. Think of some carrot sticks and a little vegetable dip rather than a bag of greasy potato chips.
How long should you keep cut fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator? I would suggest that you use freshly cut fruits within two or three days, and freshly cut vegetables within four or five days to be sure you are getting the most flavor and best texture.
Sources: María I. Gil, Encarna Aguayo, Adel A. Kader. "Quality Changes and Nutrient Retention in Fresh-Cut versus
Whole Fruits during Storage." J. Agric. Food Chem., 54 (12), 4284 -4296, 2006. 10.1021/jf060303y S0021-8561(06)00303-7. US FDA. "FDA/CFSAN Food Safety A to Z Reference Guide." September 2001.
