This work considers gradient structures for the Becker-D\"oring equation and
its macroscopic limits. The result of Niethammer [17] is extended to prove the
convergence not only for solutions of the Becker-D\"oring equation towards the
Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner equation of coarsening, but also the convergence of the
associated gradient structures. We establish the gradient structure of the
nonlocal coarsening equation rigorously and show continuous dependence on the
initial data within this framework. Further, on the considered time scale the
small cluster distribution of the Becker--D\"oring equation follows a
quasistationary distribution dictated by the monomer concentration
