Dried fruits are a convenient way to get fruits in your diet when you're not near a fridge and you don't have any utensils. Dried fruits need no preparation or special storage; they are as easy as fruit comes. Raisins are not the only dried fruit that's available--choose from dried mangoes, dried papayas, dried blueberries and dried strawberries--all at your grocery store. While there are a few benefits to dried fruit, there are also a few nutritional drawbacks.
Calories
Dried fruits have more calories than fresh fruits, according to the World's Healthiest Foods website. This is because the drying process takes out water and volume, so if you eat 1 cup of dried blueberries, you're eating more food than you would if you were eating fresh blueberries, so you consume more calories. For example, the World's Healthiest Foods states that 1/4 cup of dried apricots has 75 calories, but you can eat a whole cup of fresh apricots for the same calories.
Sugar
For the same reason that dried fruit is higher in calories than fresh fruit, it is also higher in sugar than fresh fruit. Because fruits all have natural sugar, called fructose, that sugar becomes more concentrated during the drying process. The World's Healthiest Foods website states that while only some fresh fruits are high in sugar, all dried fruits are classified as high-sugar foods. It states that a cup of fresh apricots has about 14g of sugar while a 1/4 cup of dried apricots has about 17g of sugar. Dried fruits often have added sugars as well, to improve taste and to preserve the food.
Fiber
One benefit that dried fruits have over fresh, frozen and canned fruits is that dried fruits are high in fiber. Columbia University's Go Ask Alice health answering service states that dried fruit is high in fiber, so it can be used to help reduce constipation and even to control diabetes. Dried fruit is a convenient way to get fiber on the go, especially if it's eaten in a trail mix with other high-fiber foods, like nuts.
Antioxidants
Dried fruits are high in some cancer-fighting antioxidants but low in other nutrients. According to Columbia University, dried blueberries can have up to four times the amount of antioxidants as fresh blueberries. This is because dried fruit is pre-treated with ingredients like sulfur dioxide, which can help protect the vitamin A content. Unfortunately, Columbia University explains that sulfur dioxide treatments used on dried fruits destroy the vitamin thiamin, which is important for the metabolism of carbohydrates. Additionally, the boiling or steaming that occurs before fruits are dried can destroy vitamin C, an immune-system booster.
Home-Dried Fruits
According to the World's Healthiest Foods website, commercially dried fruits are usually high in calories and natural sugars as well as added sweeteners. It suggests eating another type of dried fruit, which you dry at home. World's Healthiest Foods states that simple kitchen dehydrators blow around hot air to dry fresh fruit within a day or two, and this helps to maintain more of the nutrients than commercially dried fruits.
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