Hello,
I had previously asked this question on one of Jordan’s IG AMA’s he does and got a response but I recently came about some new info that I’d like to expand on.
My question is if there is any worth in eating a variety of colours in a diet. I asked this on IG and got a response saying, in general, eating a wide variety of fruits and veggies is a made-up recommendation, not really based on any evidence. That aiming for 10+ servings a day is good enough.
I went into the AHA’s dietary recommendations and saw they promote eating a wide variety of colour when aiming for these 9 servings per day. So I just wanted to see if there’s any reason for this or if they are just recommending more fruits and veggies altogether.
Assuming I ate the same three vegetables every day, meetings these 10 servings or more, would I be missing out on anything?
Thanks!
Daniel,
Thanks for the post. These recommendations are indeed also made up. There’s a thought that eating a wider variety of plant matter may be beneficial for the gut microbiome, but this remains yet to be seen. Additionally, data investigating consumption of different colors of vegetables tend to not control for total plant matter being consumed, thereby making it difficult to figure out if variety of plants is uniquely beneficial. I suspect that for most people eating 10+ servings of fruit and veg per day, increasing variety is probably not going to make a difference. I could contort reality and compare one person eating 10 servings of broccoli per day to someone eating 10 different varieties of fruit and veg per day, I’d suspect the varied person is probably getting more “health benefit”. By how much? I’m not sure.
Regarding the different colors, here are some claims you might see being made about them: 1. Red Foods and Inflammation. High in antioxidants and red-food carotenoids (e.g., astaxanthin and lycopene), anti-inflammatory properties, and immune system modulation (e.g., vitamin C)
2. Orange Foods and Reproductive Health. Abundant in carotenoids, endocrine-regulating activities, and role in fertility through support of processes such as ovulation
3. Yellow Foods and Digestion. Rich in fibers to support a complex microbiome and assist in maintaining gastrointestinal health through gastric motility and/or digestive secretions
4. Green Foods and Cardiovascular Health. High in a variety of nutrients for cardiovascular health, such as vitamin K, folate, magnesium, potassium, and dietary nitrates
5. Blue-Purple Foods and Cognition. Polyphenol-rich foods to assist with learning, memory, and mood (flavonoids, procyanidins (monomeric and oligomeric form), flavonols (i.e., kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin), phenolic acids (mainly hydroxycinnamic acids), and derivatives of stilbenes)
The chemical ingredients are relatively accurate, but the claims pertaining to health are meaningless without context and evidence of support.
-Jordan
Thank you so much for the in-depth answer!