Eat the Rainbow: Relationship Between Food Color and Nutrition

What’s the relationship between food color and nutrition?
Chefs and food stylists alike harness the vibrant rainbow that runs through flowers, fruits and vegetables to create food that doubles as art.
All that visual excitement can mask the correlation between food color and nutrition. That relationship goes much further than common ideas about carrots making you see better or spinach giving you Popeye-like strength.
To a large degree, the way a vegetable looks indicates the type of nutrients it harbors. We have an opportunity to enrich our bodies by enjoying a veritable painter’s palette. And, if we take care to prepare them in a way that maximizes their nutritional value, the sky is the limit!

Greens

Green vegetables tend to be rich in vitamins A, C, K and folate, as well as iron and calcium.¹ Vitamin A plays an important health role in helping us with good vision. In addition, vitamin A is important for growth, development, and immune function.

Oranges

Obviously, the most commonly known benefit of carrots is ocular health. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the body. But the bright orange root also infuses significant levels of B-vitamins and vitamin K.³

Reds

Tomatoes, watermelon, and even pink grapefruit, all have a common nutritional thread: their pigment is comprised of lycopene. This powerful antioxidant has a long list of health benefits.^{4, 5} Other reds such as strawberries, raspberries, and red grapes also provide valuable antioxidants that contribute to heart health.^{6, 7}

Purples and Blues

Blueberries, grapes, raisins and eggplant enjoy a common nutritional benefit. They all carry the antioxidant anthocyanins, which helps to protect us from cell damage. And, a diet rich in blueberries may promote cardiovascular health and help your memory.^{7, 8, 9}

Whites

Onions, parsnips, shallots, turnips, cauliflower, potatoes and others are an integral part of our diet. This group provides significant amounts of fiber, magnesium, and potassium—particularly important because experts have concluded that only two to three percent of Americans consume sufficient potassium levels. Studies point to potassium helping control high blood pressure and bone health in adults.¹⁰

Cooking the rainbow

Some cooking methods are better than others in terms of retaining nutrition. Here are a few general rules that can help you maximize the nutritional impact of your food.

• Raw Benefits: In terms of preparing greens for the dinner table, it’s easy to enjoy their maximum benefit. Kale has been trending to more and more dinner tables in recent years. It’s an excellent dark leafy green packed with nutrition and makes a terrific salad base. Spinach also delivers a powerful punch of vitamin A and easily supplants lettuce in dinner salads and on children’s sandwiches. One thing about kale, spinach and others like mustard greens that eludes many health enthusiasts is that you can grow them in your windowsill year-round. There’s nothing better than freshly harvested food

• Steam vs Boil: Stews may seem like a good way to bring a bunch of vegetables together. But, realistically, much of the nutritional value seeps into the broth and will end up in the drain—or the dog’s bowl. Steaming vegetables helps soften them while retaining far more nutrients than boiling and stews.

• Microwaves Rule: Believe it or not, microwaving vegetables ranks among the best ways to cook them. Veggies like zucchini and carrots do particularly well with small amounts of water.

Mother Nature has a way of bringing everything together. She paints the sky with real rainbows and runs that same color motif through our foods. The message is clear that to be healthy and harmonious creatures we should embrace the rainbow.

References
¹ https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/gfnd/gfhnrc/docs/news-2013/dark-green-leafy-vegetables/
² http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/vitamin-do-5262.html
³ https://authoritynutrition.com/foods/carrots/
⁴ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3850026/
⁵ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12587984
⁶ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14582991
⁷ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274736/
⁸ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7576162
⁹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16989312
¹⁰ http://advances.nutrition.org/content/4/3/318S.full