Nov 4, 2009 7:11 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: Loss Of Nutrition In Foods
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
With some foods, you can tell they're no longer good just by looking at them, but research shows even when foods are still good, you may not be getting the nutrients you think you are.
As a mom, Allison Jordan wants to feed her family well. "They're so picky about what they eat. I want to make sure that when they are eating, it's the best thing that it can be."
But just buying food rich in nutrients might not be enough.
"So many things can degrade the quality, especially the nutritional quality, of the foods you buy. Exposure to air, exposure to light, exposure to heat or cool temperatures," said Elisa Zied of the American Dietetic Association said.
Professor Carol Johnston, director of the nutrition program Arizona State University, studied Vitamin C levels in orange juice and found a rapid level of deterioration once a container is opened, even when it was refrigerated. "If you pour your glass of orange juice and have it sit a few minutes or so before you drink it, you're going to have losses even at that point."
Johnston said fresh juice should be used within a week. Otherwise you should by frozen juice, which was shown to have twice the amount of Vitamin C as the ready-to-drink variety.
Green tea contains antioxidants but when stored improperly, after six months the nutrients can drop by 32-percent.
"It's great to store tea in a sealed, airtight container in a pantry, in a kind of a dark space," Zied said.
And olive oil's heart healthy nutrients levels can decrease by about 40-percent after six months. "If you store your olive oil in a clear bottle, where direct sunlight can hit it, say next to your stove where it's going to be a little warmer, the vitamin e is not going to be retained very long," Johnston said.
"Another way to make your olive oil last longer is to store it either in the refrigerator or freezer," Zied said.
While honey never goes bad, its antioxidant power decreases 30-50 percent after six months.
Jordan plans to be more careful in the future. "I would do what I need to do to make sure everything's stored properly and sealed and protected from light."
Nutritionists said the best thing to do is try to get your nutrients from a variety of sources: fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Also, re-assess your refrigerator every few days and your pantry every month to make sure the food you have is fresh and at its peak.
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