Do dried fruits contain more nutritional value than fresh fruits?

The answer is simple. When you dry fruits, you lose more than just water. You also lose
nutrients. For example, when it comes to berries, much of their uniqueness is derived from their
phytonutrients. Flavonoids like peonidin, petunidin, malvidin, and many others found in berries
are susceptible to damage from heat, light, oxygen, and time-since-harvest. While some drying
processes are harsher than others, no drying process can leave the phytonutrient content of these
berries significantly unchanged.
Since fruits lose water (and therefore volume) during the drying process, their nutrient, calorie,
and sugar content becomes concentrated once they are dried. When you eat a handful of dried
fruit, you are consuming more calories than you would if you ate that same amount of fresh fruit.
For example, one-quarter cup of dried apricots contains about 75 calories; for that same amount
of calories you could actually enjoy a whole cup of fresh apricots. In contrast to fresh fruits,
which we would place in the moderate sugar category, we would classify dried fruits as high-
sugar foods (using the apricot example, the one-quarter cup of dried apricots actually contains
more sugar-17.4 grams-than the entire one cup of fresh apricots, which contain 14.3 grams.
While the nutrient richness-the measurement of the amount of a nutrient per calorie-of some
nutrients are the same in fresh and dried apricots, fresh apricots are more concentrated in several
nutrients because the commercial process of drying fruit in large quantities is very hard on some
nutrients. The following chart illustrates some examples:
Nutrient Fresh Apricots Dried Apricots
Calories 74 (1 cup) 313 (1 cup)
Fiber (g/calorie) 0.4 0.3
Vitamin A (IU/calorie) 40.3 15.0
Beta-carotene (mcg/calorie) 22.9 9.0
Vitamin C (g/calorie) 2.0 0.0
Potassium (mg/calorie) 5.4 4.8
The other thing to be aware of with commercially dried fruit is the addition of other ingredients,
notably sweeteners. These are usually always added to dried cranberries (and oftentimes other
berries) since cranberries are very tart. In this example, we'd suggest looking for dried
cranberries sweetened with a natural sweetener such as apple juice concentrate rather than
refined sugar or corn syrup.
With home dehydrating, however, it's a different story. A home dehydrator does nothing more
than blow warm air up through the fresh fruit, and it's not nearly as harsh on the nutrients. (Many
people like to start with fresh organic apple slices as a test.) The fruit is still "dried" and lasts
much longer than fresh fruit, but it isn't dried in the same manner as a commercial processor
would do it. Even though home dehydration is not a bad way to go from an overall nutrient
standpoint, we all still need to be careful from the sugar and calories standpoint. Sometimes we
might end up eating a lot more dehydrated apple slices, for example, than the amount of apple
we would have eaten if we had a fresh, organic, whole apple in our hand. The chewing here and
whole experience of eating can be quite different.
References:
Kao ES, Wang CJ, Lin WL, et al. Anti-inflammatory potential of flavonoid contents from dried
fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida in vitro and in vivo. J Agric Food Chem. 2005; 53(2):430-6.
Nantz MP, Rowe CA, Nieves Jr, C, et al. Immunity and antioxidant capacity in humans is
enhanced by consumption of a dried, encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate. J Nutr.
2006; 136(10):2606-10.
Nguyen ML, Schwartz SJ. Lycopene stability during food processing. Proceedings of the
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 1998; 218:101-105.
Lindley MG. The impact of food processing on antioxidants in vegetable oils, fruits and
vegetables. Trends Food Sci Technol 1998; 9:336-40.
100% DV for protein
helps maintain healthy skin, hair, and
muscles
100% DV for fiber helps support regularity
100% DV for vitamin A helps promote vision health
100% DV for thiamin B1 helps maintain energy supplies
100% DV for riboflavin B2 helps protect cells from oxygen damage
100% DV for niacin helps promote cholesterol level balance
100% DV for vitamin B6 helps support your nervous system
100% DV for folate helps support heart health
100% DV for vitamin C helps protect against free radical damage
100% DV for vitamin E helps protect skin from ultraviolet light
100% DV for vitamin K helps blood to clot normally
100% DV for calcium helps build strong bones
100% DV for copper helps promote proper thyroid function
100% DV for iron helps keep immune system healthy
100% DV for magnesium helps relax nerves
100% DV for manganese helps relax nervous system
100% DV for phosphorus helps protect cells from oxygen damage
100% DV for potassium helps lower risk of high blood pressure
100% DV for selenium helps protect cells from free radical damage
18.48g insoluble fiber promotes healthy bowel regularity
12.56 g soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol levels
7.65 mcg panothentic acid helps turn carbs and fats into useable energy
2.25 mcg vitamin B12 helps prevent anemia

44.26 mcg molybdenum helps protect against inflammation

11.65 mcg zinc helps support sense of smell and taste

1.03 g omega-3's helps reduce inflammation

2.92 g tryptophan helps promote better sleep

6205 mcg beta-carotene helps protect cells from free radicals

lutein&zeaxanthin helps promote strong immune system

lycopene helps protect cells from free radicals

anthocyanins helps protect cells from free radicals