"That's for carrots. What about fruits? I still believe fresh *fruits*
(like oranges, apples, peaches, and so on) always contain more nutrients
than cooked ones. Am I wrong?"
Carrots are an example only, spinach for example has more available
nutrition if cooked because the things good for us are converted into a
form we can absorb. In each individual case there are trade offs. With
fruits the loss tends to be in the area of heat sensitive vitamins, but as
he says, not all of them are lost there is a reduction in level. A fruit
has many items of nutritional value, including the energy from the
carbohydrates and many other things. Most fruts are cooked as part of
pastries, on an an individual basis more is probably eaten as fresh. But
then our culture tends to prompt removing skins even when they really
contain more of the vitamins etc. which are usefull. I go with his
concluding remark, eat a wide range of many fruits and vegetables, raw
and/or cooked or otherwise preserved and what we need nutritionally will
be there. This should not be confused with the goal someone might have to
supplement with items from foods because very large amounts of them are
thought to have some benefit. On that basis the natural source of them in
the food we eat is but a small fraction even with the best preservation
attempts with each kind of food and cooking or not is irrelevant.