Canned food is a convenient and inexpensive way to stock up on pantry staples. It’s shelf-stable, meaning it doesn’t require refrigeration, and it can last for years.
Despite its convenience, canned food has a major downside: It’s often unhealthy.
Many canned foods contain high levels of sodium, the leading dietary cause of high blood pressure. While naturally occurring sodium found in whole foods like vegetables is healthy, processed foods like canned foods tend to contain added salt.
A single serving of canned soup or vegetable can have as much as 1,000 milligrams of sodium — that’s nearly half of the recommended daily limit for adults.
Canned food is also often high in sugar and calories, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Many fruit products contain added sugar or syrup to enhance their flavor and texture. As a result, a single serving may have up to 30 grams of sugar — that’s more than half of the daily limit for adults.
Additionally, many canned foods are packaged with unhealthy fats like hydrogenated oils or trans fats. These fats increase the risk for heart disease by raising bad cholesterol levels and decreasing good cholesterol levels.
Chemicals, such as Bisphenol A (BPA), are also an issue with canned food products. BPA is used in the linings of cans to protect them from corrosion and keep food fresh longer. It can leach into food over time and has been linked to health issues such as reproductive problems and cancer.
When it comes to healthy eating, fresh or frozen options are usually better than canned ones — they don’t have added salt, sugar or unhealthy fats and they don’t contain any chemicals.
Conclusion: Canned food may be convenient but it is often very unhealthy due to its high levels of sodium, sugar, calories and unhealthy fats as well as chemicals such as BPA used in its packaging which can leach into the food over time.