Investigation of the micronutrient density of processed foods in comparison to their corresponding real foods.

By Norbert Fuchs, Deise-Silvia Pop, Gertrude Markolin, Bodo Kuklinski, Silvia Santner, Helene Fuchs, Julia Fuchs, Sophie Döme

In everyday nutrition, dishes made from industrially prepared ingredients can hardly be distinguished from dishes made from real foods. In terms of caloric value, ready meals hardly differ from dishes made from real foods, but show moderate to enormous losses of essential micronutrients and fibers.

Research shows, compared to their corresponding real foods, industrially processed foods and ready-made instant meals show losses of 50-90% in vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fibers and essential fatty acids.