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Writer's pictureFiona Martindale

Eating the Rainbow

Adding on to the post about flowers last week I thought I'd talk a little bit about the science and current understanding of eating colourful foods.


We often talk about Macronutrients (proteins fats, carbohydrates) and MIcronutrients (vitamins and minerals for the most part) but what many people have not heard of are Phytonutrients - that is the nutrients from plants. There are over 10,000 recognised phytonutrients, and there are thought to be in excess of 40,0000 bio-active nutrients in plants in total, with many of them simply not having been isolated to study as yet.


Although many phytonutrients are new to science and many more as yet have no names a few are known in the more general public setting, and these provide a good start point to help us think about colour:


There are some groups of phytonutrients where the colour IS the nutrient - I think namely of the carotinoids. ... of which the most well known is β-carotene a precursor to vitamin A and the compound that makes a carrot / squash / orange, well orange. Secondly in this line is lycopene - the pinky red compound giving both colour and anti-cancer benefits to tomatoes and watermelon. We are also aware of the anthocyanins (purple blue) and flavones (blue and white flower pigment).


Other important groups of phytonutrients are found in colourful vegetables, and yet are not the carrier of that colour. The most noteworthy of these are the glucosinolates found exclusively in cruciferous vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower etc) and hesperidin - found in citrus fruits, which is a powerful anti-oxidant.


Eating a wide variety of colourful plants will ensure a good mix of many phytonutrients across the board - the known and the unknown - with many postive effects for the body, mmind and microbiome.





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