Are Fresh Green Beans More Nutritious Than Canned Green Beans?

Inexperienced beans are a flexible, nutritious addition to any meal—however are contemporary or canned variations higher to your dinner desk? Registered dietitians weigh in on the contemporary inexperienced beans vs. canned inexperienced beans debate, and which packs extra vitamins and sodium content material.

Taking a look at vitamin details alone, contemporary inexperienced beans have a slight dietary edge over canned green beans due to their larger vitamin C, potassium, and fiber content material, together with minimal sodium, Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN, a preventive cardiology dietitian at Solely Nourished, instructed Well being. 

However the true “winner” is the choice that helps you eat inexperienced beans most constantly—even when meaning that you must attain for the canned possibility. “If contemporary inexperienced beans are laborious to search out, costly, or are likely to spoil earlier than you employ them, canned inexperienced beans is usually a very sensible different,” stated Routhenstein.

Any means you eat beans is a bonus to your well being—analysis exhibits that bean consumption (together with canned varieties) may help you get key vitamins, enhance the general high quality of your weight loss program, and show you how to with weight administration.

Recent and canned inexperienced beans are fairly nutritionally comparable: “Each present fiber, nutritional vitamins, minerals, and useful plant compounds that help general well being,” stated Routhenstein.

However there are some smaller variations in dietary worth. “Recent green beans are picked at peak dietary worth, however vitamins are misplaced over time, particularly if not correctly saved [and during canning]” Kimberly R. Dong, DrPH, MS, RD, a registered dietitian, affiliate professor within the Division of Public Well being and Neighborhood Drugs at Tufts College College of Drugs, and director of the Public Well being Program and Tufts COHERE, instructed Well being.

However the major issue to think about when evaluating contemporary inexperienced beans and canned inexperienced beans is sodium content material. “Many canned inexperienced beans include added salt, which is usually a concern for somebody that’s managing their blood pressure,” Matthew J. Landry, PhD, RDN, FAND, FAHA, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of inhabitants well being and illness prevention at UC Irvine Joe C. Wen College of Inhabitants & Public Well being, instructed Well being.

Right here’s a greater have a look at how contemporary inexperienced beans examine to canned inexperienced beans: