Does Refrigeration Kill Nutrients From Food?

Does refrigeration kill nutrition?

The concept of killing nutrition due to refrigeration is a myth. Food does not become unhealthy when we refrigerate it. Using a refrigerator primarily helps us retain food nutrition as it delays food from staling.

When you source fresh food, clean them, and add it to your freezer, you allow nutrient retention. All vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbs remain intact as produced and sold.

Fresh food, when kept at room temperature, loses moisture over time. There is a sudden drop in nutritional value because you refrained from slowing the decaying process.

Food starts losing nutritional value post-harvest. So, typically, when you buy a vegetable, you already get lower nutrition content than the fresh produce. According to a study, refrigeration improves antioxidant activities making food more nutritious. It suggested that frozen food stored at -20 degrees C had more nutrients than unfrozen food at a temperature of 4 degrees C during the testing period of three days.

What makes food stale?

Food becomes stale due to the change in moisture. Every food item has a certain moisture level, and it changes the staling process. For example, bread has around 30% of moisture. Once you open a loaf of bread and air passes through, it is prone to staling. Bread also goes through retrogradation that realigns strands of starch inside starch granules. So, freezing bread can increase shelf life than regular refrigeration.

How refrigeration retains nutrition?

Decaying of food happens when it is prone to microbe build-up. Microbes multiply in warm and humid temperatures. A refrigerator is a cool place and opposite a space that can grow microbes.

Fruits and vegetables thrive even after plucking and have their own way of preventing bacteria and fungi. But gradually, microbes take over if not stored at the right temperature. Food retains nutrition for 4-8 days, depending on how fresh you source it.

Nutrition loss happens during the cooking process and not the refrigeration process. Food that is rich in vitamin B and C and rich in antioxidants are heat sensitive. It causes nutritional loss as the flames turn high.

Since we can only consume most vegetables after cooking, the nutrition loss cannot bother us. A balanced diet including cooked vegetables with ample protein and fruits is key to maintaining nutrition.

Refraining from freezing food at 2 to 5 degrees C can increase bacteria buildup, leading to food poisoning. All food attracts pathogenic microbes if kept at room temperature.

A refrigerator is imperative if you eat meat and fish. Unlike plant-based food, dead animals attract microbes as they do not have life. That is why we freeze meat and fish products instead of regular refrigeration. Dairy products like milk and butter also require refrigeration to prevent rapid spoilage.

Benefits of refrigeration

Here are reasons why more and more households in India must adopt refrigeration:

Prevents wastage and overeating

Every unfinished bite contributes towards environmental damage and simultaneously burns your pocket. Alternatively, we turn to overeating when we neither want to waste food nor have the means to preserve it for later.

Refrigeration allows us to turn leftover dinner into breakfasts the following day. It helps us optimally use food resources to minimize wastage.

Helps preserve perishable products

Milk, paneer, cheese, and butter are dairy products and examples of perishable goods with little shelf life. You can make them last a little while with refrigeration, but without it, they will last a day or two.

Recently a video of Amul Lassi went viral, exposing that their products expired before the expiry date. There is an ongoing inquiry about the product, but Amul has refused to accept the claims.

Goods like milk and lassi sold in tetra packaging must be properly examined before consumption. Brands sell these products as safe to consume, while the reality might be far from this.