Mixed Berry

Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps

Frozen at harvest, which usually means more vitamin C left than in fresh berries a week off the plant.

Stage by stage

Intake (Cells rupture, juice released): Ice crystals have burst cell walls during freezing, so thawed berries collapse and weep.
Digestion (Intrinsic sugars, with fibre): The sugars are the fruit's own and arrive with fibre and acid, giving a modest glycaemic response.
Absorption (Vitamin C in, pigments mostly not): Vitamin C is actively absorbed; anthocyanins cross intact at well under 1%.
Large bowel (Polyphenols metabolised): Most polyphenols reach the colon, where bacteria convert them to absorbable phenolic acids.

Time to effect

Hours to weeks: Vitamin C absorbs within hours; the vascular effects studied in berry trials need weeks of regular intake.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Keto, Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

204 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — very high. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.

Environmental footprint

1.5 kg CO2e and 420 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Berries & grapes" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £9 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Vitamin C
Anthocyanins
Dietary fibre

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 48
Protein: 0.6g
Carbohydrate: 9.6g
of which sugars: 9.2g
Fat: 0.1g
of which saturated: 0g
Fibre: 3.3g
Sodium: 2mg

Food vs. supplement

Whole berries have outperformed isolated antioxidant capsules in trial after trial. Part of the reason is that under 1% of their pigments are absorbed intact — most of what circulates is produced by gut bacteria from fibre-bound polyphenols a capsule does not supply.

Kitchen tip

Cook or bake straight from frozen. Thawing first drains juice that carries the vitamin C and the pigment with it.

Common myth

“Fresh berries are more nutritious than frozen.” In reality: Usually the reverse. Berries destined for freezing are picked riper and frozen within hours, while fresh berries lose vitamin C steadily across days of transport and shelf life. Freezing costs texture, not nutrition.