According to the Produce for Better Health Foundation, you need to eat any and all types of fruits for a healthy diet, from fresh fruit on your morning cereal, to a handful of raisins for a mid-morning snack, to canned pineapple for an after-dinner dessert. While fresh fruit has advantages in terms of vitamin C that hasn't been cooked away, both canned and dried fruit do have benefits as well as disadvantages.
Calories
Canned fruit can be very high in calories from the sugar in the syrup it is packed in. Choose fruit without added sugar and look for words such as "unsweetened" or "extra light syrup." Do not choose fruits in heavy syrup, or if you do, drain the fruit first. Because the sugars in dried fruit are condensed, they too can contain high calorie counts. According to the USDA Nutrient Database, for example, 1 cup of dried apples contains 209 calories, with 49.18 g of sugar while 1 cup of canned apples contains 137 calories and 30.60 g of sugar. This is also true for pears, with 1 cup of dried pears containing 472 calories and 111.96 g of sugar while canned pears contain 143 calories and 30.37 g of sugar.
Vitamins and Minerals
While both canned and dried fruits are lower in vitamin C than fresh fruits, ounce-for-ounce, dried fruits have more nutrients because they are so dense. For example, the USDA Database shows dried apples with 12 mg of calcium, 1.2 mg of iron, 14 mg of magnesium and 387 mg of potassium compared to canned apples with 8 mg of calcium, 0.47 mg of iron, 4 mg of magnesium and 139 mg of potassium. The dried apples contain 3.4 mg of vitamin C versus 0.8 for the canned apples, 0.797 mg of niacin for dried versus 0.149 for canned and 0.107 mg for vitamin B6 versus 0.090 for canned. Dried apricots beat both fresh apricots and canned apricots in a USDA comparison. A 1/4-cup serving of dried apricots received an overall score of 193, with kudos for carotenoids, potassium and fiber. The canned apricots received a score of 66 and although they did contain more vitamin C than the dried fruit, they also contained less carotenoids, less potassium and less fiber.
Fiber
As with all other nutrients, drying condenses the fiber in dried fruits, giving them an edge in this category. According to the USDA Database, 1 cup of dried pears contains 13.5 g of fiber whereas canned pears contain 4 g of fiber. Dried apples contain 7.5 g of fiber versus 3.5 g for canned apples.
Other Considerations
According to "Nutrition Today," because dried fruits are so dense, 1/4 cup is the equivalent of 1/2 cup of canned or fresh fruit. Remember to count serving sizes accordingly so the extra calories don't increase your overall daily calorie count. And, don't forget to brush your teeth after eating dried fruit, as the sugars make the fruit stick to your teeth.
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