Fresh, frozen canned, dried or 100% juice?

All these forms of fruit and vegetables contain nutrients.

Changing fresh fruit and vegetables into other forms can enhance or decrease the amount of nutrients.

Raw or cooked? Heat destroys many nutrients so that cooked fruit and vegetables contain fewer nutrients. However heat helps release other nutrients so that cooked fruit and vegetables contain more of other nutrients.

Freezing fruit and vegetables helps to retain many nutrients but can destroy others. Frozen vegetables may contain more of some nutrients than fresh vegetables as they are frozen straight away while fresh vegetables may be stored for a long time before they reach the shops allowing vitamin loss.

Canning involves heating fruit and vegetables to high temperatures. This destroys some of the nutrients but manufacturers realise this and add back particular nutrients so that canned fruits and vegetables can contain more of specific nutrients. High temperatures can also release some nutrients again meaning some canned fruit and vegetables contain more of specific nutrients.

Dried fruit can contain more of some nutrients as being smaller because the water has been dried up, the nutrients can become more concentrated meaning that half a dried fruit may give you the same amount of some nutrients as a whole fresh fruit. However other nutrients will be less as the fruit has been stored a long time.

Juicing removes a lot of the "stringy" parts of fruit and vegetables leaving just the liquid parts. A glass of this juice part may contain more of some nutrients because you get more of this juice part than if you are eating the while fruit. However, you get less of other nutrients as the "stringy" parts that are removed from juice contains other nutrients.

Here are some tips to help you get the most nutrients out of your vegetables whether they are fresh, frozen, canned, dried or 100% juice.

Only buy fresh looking fruit or vegetables - fruit and vegetables that stand a long time in shops loose nutrients; damaged fruit and vegetables loose even more nutrients.

Buy local fruit and vegetables if you can - these fruit and vegetables will have spent less time in transit and as a result experience less nutrient loss.

Buy fruit and vegetables often - keeping fruit and vegetables a long time allows nutrient loss.

Store all fruit (except bananas) and vegetables in the fridge - chilling reduces loss of nutrients.

Chopping fruit and vegetables allows air to get at the nutrients they contain which can destroy them - chop fruit and vegetables in to as large as pieces as possible as near as possible to the time that you are going to eat them instead of the day before. Keeping the skins on also helps prevent nutrient loss.

As heating fruit and vegetables causes the loss of some nutrients always cook them for the minimum amount of time so that the fruit and vegetables are just cooked. Remember fresh fruit and vegetables require a longer cooking time than frozen and that canned fruit and vegetables require the least as they have already been heated during the canning process.

During cooking many nutrients go from the vegetable to the water surrounding them and are then lost in the steam - cook fruit and vegetables using cooking techniques that use less water. The fewest nutrients are lost by micro waving and steaming followed by stir-frying and baking.

Boiling looses the most nutrients as nutrients go from the vegetable to the water surrounding it and are then lost in the steam - use as little water as possible, do not over boil so that the fruit and vegetables are mushy and keep the cooking water (which contains nutrients fro the fruit and vegetables) to make gravy.