There is a mistaken belief amongst the house wives that once a food is shoved into a refrigerator, it is safe and and its nutrients are 100% protected. Contrary to this perception, many studies have brought out the reality that food being a perishable substance can lose its nutrients continuously whether held at room temperature or in the refrigerator, the only variability being the rate of destruction under different conditions. Natural biological substances are rich in a variety of enzymes, which can decompose the nutrients into biologically unusable artifacts.
"In a recent study at Arizona State University, Prof. Carol Johnston found that the vitamin C in orange juice declines rapidly after being opened, even when 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," she said. In fact, frozen orange juice was shown to have twice the amount of vitamin C per cup as the ready-to-drink juice. "I think, consumers need to realize frozen is good when it comes to maintaining nutritional quality," she continued. Green tea can lose 32 percent of its antioxidants after six months if not stored properly".
Nature's own packing is the most efficient one and as long as there is no human intervention affecting the integrity of the cellular system in plant based foods, the nutrient destruction can be kept to the absolute minimum. Of course there are some instances where food technology has evolved stabilization and nutrient fortification technologies that improve the nutrition value of processed products compared to the raw material. It is not often realized by those critics who brand frozen foods as old and stale that freezing is the best known process to retard all chemical and biochemical reactions and it can be almost equal to its fresh counter part in terms organoleptic quality and nutritional content.
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