If we think about fruits and vegetables we can easily find some relating to all the colours of the rainbow: red (strawberry), orange (pumpkin), yellow (capsicum), green (spinach), blue (blueberry), indigo (plum), violet (eggplant).

Many of the colours that we can see come from the specialised components found inside the foods, most of the time found in the skin of the fruit or vegetable. There are thousands of different phyochemicals related to each different colour and sometimes the same components can give different colours as well. 

The most common phytochemical is lycopene which is well known for being found in tomatoes. Lycopene is a type of carotenoid which you might have guessed is also found in carrots and most yellow/orange coloured fruits and vegetables. Some carotenoids can convert into Vitamin A which is important for keeping our eyes healthy.

On the other end of the rainbow the blue colours in blueberries, purple grapes, passionfruit, prunes, eggplant, beetroot and black olives contain a certain type of component called anthocyanins which appear in different amounts in the food depending on where it was grown and how ripe it was when picked.

Anthocyanins are being studied for their role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and also more recently with improved brain health, particularly for dementia.

As plant-based foods, grains also contain these phytochemical components. The components are unique to grains, you may have noticed there aren’t too many rainbow coloured grains. 

Because different types of components are found in different fruits, vegetables and grains it is important that we try to eat a rainbow of different colours every single day. Here are some easy ways to include colour in your meals:

 Use different coloured fruits for fruit salad, such as strawberries, orange, banana, honeydew melon, blueberries and top with dried raisins or sultanas. 

Add frozen mixed berries and kiwi fruits to your cereal or porridge and add mushroom, spinach, capsicum, sweet corn and tomato to your omelettes.

Try different coloured vegetables in your salads, such as yellow capsicum, spinach, cucumber, beetroot, onions and olives.

Add new colourful vegetables to your stir fry such as purple carrots.

Roast different coloured vegetables such as carrots, pumpkin, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, beetroot and onion. The leftover roasted colourful vegetables can be used for salads or on your sandwich.

Add some brown rice or even black rice to your white rice.

Author: Dr Yasmine Probst - Senior Research Fellow and Vivienne Guam - PhD Student, HealthTrack Study