Generally yes, and the reason is thermal load rather than anything specific to sublimation. Heat-sensitive and oxygen-sensitive nutrients degrade as a function of temperature and exposure time, and freeze-drying keeps both low compared with hot air drying.
Three qualifications matter more than the headline.
- **The size of the advantage depends on the nutrient and the commodity.** Some compounds are robust to heat and lose very little in a hot air tunnel; others are sensitive and lose a great deal. A single retention percentage quoted across “nutrients” is marketing, not data.
- **Published figures vary widely** because they depend on the exact process conditions, the starting material, the packaging and the storage before analysis. Treat any specific number as indicative unless it comes from analysis of the actual product under the actual process.
- **Storage undoes process advantages.** A well-retained nutrient in a permeable pack stored warm will degrade anyway. For oxygen-sensitive compounds the packaging can matter as much as the drying method.
If a nutrient claim is going to appear on a label or in a specification, it has to be supported by analysis of the finished product at the end of the claimed shelf life, not by the process description. That is a testing programme, not a process choice.