Bell peppers

What's New and Beneficial About Bell Peppers

WHFoods Recommendations

Because many people are long-accustomed to finding green bell peppers in the produce section of the supermarket, we want to start our WHFoods Recommendations for bell peppers with these green varieties. Our outstanding level of green vegetable intake at WHFoods is 8 servings of green vegetables per day. A variety of days in our World's Healthiest Foods Meal Plan provide this outstanding amount, without compromising the delicious balance of textures or flavors in our World' Healthiest Foods Meal Plan Recipes. The many different types of green vegetables available to provide you with exceptional nourishment are nothing short of astonishing! Not only can you choose from dark green leafy vegetables from the cruciferous group (for example, mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, or collards), but also from the squash/gourd group (including zucchini and cucumber), the parsley/umbelliferous group (like fennel and celery), green allium vegetables like leeks, green lettuces like romaine, the asparagus group that includes asparagus, the leguminous vegetable group that includes both green peas and green beans, and of course green bell peppers. Rather than relying exclusively on any one of these green vegetable subgroups, we recommend that you consider including green vegetables across all of these subgroups when putting together your weekly meal plan.

Of course, bell peppers can be enjoyed in a wide variety of colors - including delightful shades of yellow and orange. If you are selecting bell peppers in this color category, you'll want to count them as contributing to your yellow/orange vegetable intake. (For more details about yellow/orange vegetables, please see our Vegetable Advisor.) As a minimum daily goal for vegetable intake from the yellow/orange group, we recommend ½ cup per day. A more optimal intake level would be one cup per day. Of course, alongside of yellow and orange bell peppers, you will find carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow summer squash, and yellow corn available to help you reach your daily yellow-orange vegetable total.

If you opt for red or purple bell peppers instead of orange or yellow ones, we recommend that you treat bell peppers as part of the red/purple vegetable subgroup. Once again, you will find more information about this group in our Vegetable Advisor. Our minimum recommended intake level for this subgroup is ½ cup per day and our more optimal recommended intake is one cup. Beets, red red tomatoes, red and purple carrots, and eggplant would be examples of other vegetables in this red/purple subgroup.

Bell Peppers, sliced, red, raw
1.00 cup
(92.00 grams)
Calories: 29
GI: very low

NutrientDRI/DV

 vitamin C157%

 vitamin B616%

 vitamin A16%

 folate11%

 molybdenum10%

 vitamin E10%

 fiber7%

 pantothenic acid6%

 potassium6%

 vitamin B36%

 vitamin B26%

 vitamin K5%

 manganese5%

 vitamin B14%

 phosphorus3%

 magnesium3%

Health Benefits

Broad-Based Nutrient Benefits from Bell Peppers

While green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables often get more time in the public spotlight than bell peppers, it would be wrong to overlook the rich diversity of nutrients in this sometimes underrated food. In our WHFoods rating system, bell peppers achieve 16 total rankings of either "excellent," "very good," or "good" for their rich conventional nutrient content. Included among the conventional nutrients provided in excellent amounts by bell peppers are vitamin C, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), and vitamin B6. In fact, bell peppers are our Number 1 vegetable source of vitamin C at WHFoods, and our second best source of vitamin C overall (after papaya). They are also our Number 5 food source of vitamin B6.

In the "very good" conventional nutrient category, bell peppers provide us with a good number of B vitamins (including vitamin B2, vitamin B3, foloate, and pantothenic acid), as well as vitamin E, potassium, molybdenum, and fiber. Bell peppers also contain vitamin K, vitamin B1, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium in good amounts. Overall, we get a remarkable wealth of conventional nutrients from this popular vegetable.

In addition to providing us with such a rich mix of conventional nutrients, however, bell peppers also offer an equally rich mix of phytonutrients. Because most of these phytonutrients fall into the antioxidant category, we've featured them separately in the paragraphs below.

Antioxidant Benefits from Phytonutrients in Bell Peppers