Pepper power: The colourful benefits of your favourite vegetable

Peppers are great additions to stews, can be crunched on sandwiches, or served with your favourite dips. They come in many names, or rather, many colours. It might seem like the choice is mainly an aesthetic issue, but it's also worth paying attention to its nutritional properties.

Not all peppers are equal, and I don't just mean their size or shape. When choosing a vegetable in the store, it's also worth considering the colour. Many people mistakenly believe there are no differences between yellow, red, and green peppers. While the taste is similar, the nutritional properties can differ. Although all pepper colours are valuable, each contains slightly different nutrients.

In addition to adding flavour and colour to our dishes, they provide us with many valuable vitamins and minerals. They contain vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as folic acid, fibre, antioxidants, and minerals such as potassium and magnesium.

Regular consumption of peppers can support the immune system, positively affect vision, support heart health, and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. It is worth incorporating them into daily meals while paying attention to our chosen colour. Each one is healthy, but there are certain differences between them, which can help better match the vegetable to your body's needs.

The colour of the peppers is a result of their ripening. All peppers, whether red, yellow, or green, come from the same plant. The difference lies in when they were picked. The longer a pepper ripens on the plant, the more pigments it produces, and its colour becomes more intense. The earliest picked are green, then they transition to yellow and orange and finally saturate with red.

The sweetest and most aromatic is the red pepper. It also contains a lot of lycopene, a strong antioxidant that gives the pepper its red colour and is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. The pepper also has a high content of vitamin C, potassium, and beta-carotene. Because it is the ripest, it has the most nutrients.

Green pepper is also a source of vitamin A and fibre. It is tougher, more crunchy, and contains more water and slightly fewer calories than red. It works great in salads, soups, and sauces. Yellow pepper combines the characteristics of both colours. Like them, it has lots of vitamins and nutrients. It contains less sugar than red pepper but more than green. Regardless of the colour, pepper is low in calories and rich in water and fibre, making it an excellent addition to a healthy diet.

There is no single "best" pepper. The choice of colour depends on our personal preferences and what we currently have at hand. It is important to reach for peppers regularly, regardless of their colour.