Eat the rainbow. It’s a phrase you’ve likely heard in some form or another, but the intent is clear: The more colors you have on your plate, the more antioxidants and phytochemicals you’ll consume.
However, according to Deanna Minich, Ph.D., IFMCP, a functional nutritionist who studies plant-based pigments, it’s high time we extend the phrase. “These colorful compounds, they’re not just antioxidants. That’s a real 1990s way to look at colors and food,” she says on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. Rather, each hue denotes a certain type of phytonutrient that pairs up with a specific part of your body: “The newer science of color is that they’re functional. They actually locate in certain parts of the body and have functional roles.”
Pretty cool, no? And while it’s difficult for Minich to pinpoint her all-time favorite pigments (“That’s like a mother saying I have a favorite child,” she quips), she does have a few heavy hitters in each category. Find them below:
