FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Summer is the time to take advantage of nature’s palette of color to enhance food’s eye appeal and health benefits. Your eyes tell your brain that great-tasting food is on the way when a variety of colors is on your plate. Also, research is uncovering the benefits of the pigment-related phytonutrients — and the colorful fruits and vegetables that supply them.
Add these colors to your plate to get great flavor and health benefits:
• Green: fruit — avocado, apples, grapes, honeydew, kiwi, lime; vegetables — artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers, leafy greens. Their lutein and indoles have antioxidant potential and may help promote healthy vision and reduce cancer risks.
• Orange and deep yellow: fruit — apricot, cantaloupe, grapefruit, mango, papaya, peach, pineapple; vegetables — carrots, yellow pepper, yellow corn, sweet potato. Carotenoids, bioflavonoids and the antioxidant vitamin C in these foods promote a healthy heart, vision, immunity and reduced risk for some cancers. The deeper the orange/yellow color, the more carotenoids they have.
• Purple and blue: fruit — blackberries, blueberries, plums, raisins; vegetables — eggplant, purple cabbage, purple-fleshed potato. Anthocyanins, which give a blue-purple color and phenolics, may have antioxidant and anti-aging benefits and may help with memory, urinary tract health and reduced cancer risks.
• Red: fruit — cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, red/pink grapefruit, red grapes, watermelon; vegetables — beets, red onions, red peppers, red potatoes, rhubarb, tomatoes. This color group delivers lycopene, a powerful carotenoid, as well as anthocyanins. They may help maintain a healthy heart, vision, immunity and may reduce cancer risks.
• White, tan, brown: fruit — banana, brown pear, dates, white peaches; vegetables — cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips, white-fleshed potato, white corn. Allicin in onion (and garlic) and selenium in mushrooms may promote heart health and reduce cancer risks.
A rainbow of fruits and vegetables creates a palette of nutrients and phytonutrients on your plate, each with a different bundle of potential benefits in a healthful eating plan: from oxidizing free radicals that may damage healthy cells, to having anti-inflammatory qualities, to lowering LDL cholesterol. Enjoy foods this summer that are a treat for your eyes — and your body.
For other nutrition and food safety questions, contact me at 620-232-1930 or e-mail me at mmurphy@ksu.edu or check out the K-State Research and Extension Web site: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/humannutrition/