A study found that vitamin C levels in orange juice rapidly deteriorate once a container is opened and then put in the refrigerator.
With some foods you can tell they're not good just by looking at them - think wilted lettuce and moldy cheese. But new research shows that some foods may look perfectly fine, yet have something really wrong with them: no more nutrients inside. CBS 2's Anne State reports.
Allison Jordan wants to make sure her family stays healthy.
"I want to make sure that when they are eating it's the best thing that it can be," Jordan said.
But dietitian Elisa Zied says just buying healthy food may not be enough.
"So many things can degrade the quality, especially the nutritional quality of the foods you buy," Zied said. "Exposure to air, exposure to light, exposure to heat or cool temperatures."
A study from Arizona State University found that vitamin C levels in orange juice rapidly deteriorate once a container is opened and then put in the refrigerator. And, that's not the only concern.
Carol Johnston, a researcher at ASU warns: "If you pour your glass of orange juice and have it sit for a few minutes or so before you drink it, you're going to have losses even at that point."
She also advises that once fresh juice is opened, use it within a week or risk losing all of the vitamin C inside.
You can also buy frozen orange juice. Johnston found it has two times more vitamin C per cup than fresh.
"I think consumers need to realize frozen is good when it comes to maintaining nutritional quality," Johnston said.
Nutrient loss can also happen in antioxidant-rich green tea. A recent study in the Journal of Food Science showed it can lose 32 percent of its antioxidants in just six months if you store it improperly.
"It's great to store tea in a sealed, airtight container in a pantry, in a kind of a dark space," Zied said.
Antioxidants in olive oil can plunge 40 percent in six months, according to an Italian study.
That's because, according to Johnston, "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."
So, what do you do? Experts say the best place to take the olive oil is out of the cabinet and store it in the refrigerator or freezer instead. Ideally, you want to store it at 57 degrees.
It's all advice that Allison Jordan is taking to heart.
"I want the food that I feed my family to be high in nutrients and good for them," Jordan said.
One more food to watch out for: honey. While it never goes bad, a University of Illinois study found that antioxidants in honey can decrease by half after just six months.
source: cbs2chicago
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