How Quickly Is Your Food Losing Its Nutrients?

By Michelle Edelbaum, Web Editor for EatingWell Media Group

I like to keep a stockpile of my favorite foods in my pantry so that when the mood strikes, I have what I'm craving. But it turns out that may not be a good idea for certain foods, because they actually lose their health punch over time, according to a report by Amy Paturel in EatingWell Magazine.

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Keep track of how long you store these 4 items. Here's why: certain nutrients are unstable when exposed to oxygen (from the air), heat (from cooking) and light.

Orange juice: 1 week
One cup of OJ can offer a full day's dose of vitamin C. But OJ that has been opened loses all antioxidant benefit after just one week. To get the most vitamin C, buy frozen concentrate and drink within a few days. Frozen concentrate is exposed to less light and air.

Green tea: 6 months
A 2009 study in the Journal of Food Science showed that green tea's catechins (antioxidants linked with a reduced risk of some cancers) decreased markedly over time. After six months, catechin levels were 32 percent lower. Make the most of the antioxidants by storing tea in a sealed container in a dark, cool place.
(Add this 1 ingredient to your tea to make it healthier.)

Olive oil: 6 months
Extra-virgin olive oil contains more than 45 heart-healthy antioxidants, but after six months of storage their potency decreases by about 40 percent, according to researchers at the University of Foggia in Italy. Why? Oxygen bubbles in the bottle destroy the antioxidants.

Honey: 6 months
Researchers at the University of Illinois found the antioxidant power of clover honey and buckwheat honey decreased by 30 to 50 percent after six months. Consider buying buckwheat honey—it generally has more antioxidants to start with.

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How long do you usually keep these foods?

By Michelle Edelbaum

Michelle is the digital editor for EatingWell Media Group. She puts her background in journalism to work online at EatingWell.com and in each issue of EatingWell Magazine, authoring The Fresh Interview with interesting people in the world of food and health.

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Comments

[anfractuous]

04:21 PM on 10/03/2011

Salt: 2.5 billion years.

[DanoX]

11:18 AM on 10/03/2011

Nothing wrong with frozen veggies either! You get far more nutrients from frozen peas than you ever could from some that were picked fresh just a few days ago.

[jbrumf5632]

07:47 PM on 10/01/2011

Frozen concentrated orange juice is loaded with processed sugar. Don't drink that crap.

[DanoX]

11:18 AM on 10/03/2011

Unless you (or the vendor) squeeze the oranges on the spot don't drink it!

[thegrrrr8est]

04:15 PM on 10/17/2011

And, its enzymes have all been killed. Processed orange juice isn't really food after it's had all its nutrients cooked out of it. Squeeze it fresh or eat an orange. Otherwise, you're not much better off than drinking a Coke.

[DrMaxChartrand]

04:58 PM on 10/01/2011

Microwaving the food and warming it up in the microwave kills the amino acids and shatters the DNA of the food and makes it unrecognizable to the body, causing your body up to two hours to reassemble the food with needed amino acids and enzymes before it can finish digesting it--hence, acid reflux and malnutrition. Best to use small convection over, steaming, and low-heat stove top cooking. In microwaving only the synthetic nutrients are salvaged and those aren't very good for the body. Anyone who has arthritis, acid reflux, diabetes type 2, neuropathies, and other chronic conditions should stop microwaving and their health condition will improve. Also, use extra virgin olive oil and avoid canola oil for better health.

[riverdaughte3]

04:44 PM on 10/01/2011

Our plates should be as colorful as a box of crayola crayons!

[DanoX]

11:23 AM on 10/03/2011

Thanks to these, my food always is! Hooray! "sarcasim"

FD&C Blue No. 1 – Brilliant Blue FCF, E133 (blue shade)
FD&C Blue No. 2 – Indigotine, E132 (indigo shade)
FD&C Green No. 3 – Fast Green FCF, E143 (turquoise shade)
FD&C Red No. 40 – Allura Red AC, E129 (red shade)
FD&C Red No. 3 – Erythrosine, E127 (pink shade, commonly used in glacé cherries)[7]
FD&C Yellow No. 5 – Tartrazine, E102 (yellow shade)
FD&C Yellow No. 6 – Sunset Yellow FCF, E110 (orange shade)

[Fuddgate]

03:48 PM on 10/01/2011

I eat the tomatoes from my garden within one week of picking them. This is a rare food that I actually know where they came from! It's October and we haven't had a frost yet in Colorado.

Brown Rice supposedly can become rancid due to the oil it contains vs white rice. I've kept it for 6 months with no problem. There are benefits to being poor! Food doesn't stick around long enough to go bad!

[GOODDOC1]

06:29 PM on 10/01/2011

I used to love wild strawberries just off the vine as I was walking into my house after a night shift. But you had to make sure the birds hadn't gotten to them -- in more ways than one! I think if you stored your brown rice in the freezer it would be OK.

[sunnybunny]

04:41 PM on 09/30/2011

I thought honey and olive oil stayed good almost indefinitely.

[MexiChick67]

03:26 AM on 10/01/2011

I've had olive oil go rancid on me. Never heard of it being good indefinitely.

[Fuddgate]

03:56 PM on 10/01/2011

I have ~500 ml of Extra Virgin sitting in a cool dark place. I guess I should pick up the pace of using it. It isn't top dollar stuff, but EV is the bomb!

[Tanya OaksBrooks]

04:26 PM on 10/01/2011

The antioxidants may lessen, but the honey itself isn't likely to go bad. Honey is even used as a preservative.

[drvittoriarepetto]

03:13 PM on 09/30/2011

Squeeze your own juice from an orange..more nutrients ..no favor packs...just real juice

[gopalsingh]

01:47 PM on 10/01/2011

Absolutely. This is very important. Real Orange juice may seem like a luxury, but those flavor packs and chemicals just allow us to pretend that we have it available to us. In reality we're like actors on a stage eating and drinking pretend food. We may think we 'like' it, but our bodies know the differrence.

There is a good article on the orange juice issue, (which was excerpted in HP),.at www.civileats.com,

[Tanrioldu]

11:09 AM on 10/02/2011

except you actually need a whole lot of oranges for just one glass and in some places the cost of fresh oranges is insanely expensive. You'd be looking at a $5 glass of OJ in the morning.

[drvittoriarepetto]

08:22 PM on 10/03/2011

sounds like you are drinking a very large glass of OJ which is not necessary ..in fact too much juice as in high fructose can up your insulin resistance.

[thegrrrr8est]

04:18 PM on 10/17/2011

I get your point, but how cost effective is it to buy a "cheaper" box of orange juice that has had its enzymes and most of its nutrients killed off by processing? I'll take the $5 real food over a 75 cent glass of dead sugar water any day. Besides, there was an article recently about the fact that processed orange juice gets its flavor NOT from oranges but from a fancy chemical concoction that tastes like we think oranges should taste. Ptooie!