While all vegetables provide your body with valuable nutrients, some are more nutrient-rich than others. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has organized vegetables into subgroups based on their color and nutrient content. For example, dark green vegetables often have similar nutrients to each other, such as high magnesium content. Choosing vegetables from each of the subgroups will supply you with a rainbow of nutrients.
Dark Green
Dark green vegetables, which include broccoli, kale and romaine lettuce, contain high levels of chlorophyll, which gives them their color and makes them rich in magnesium. Raw spinach has one of the highest magnesium contents, with 24 mg in a loosely packed 1-cup serving. Your body needs magnesium for functions like building healthy bones and teeth and producing energy. In addition, spinach has rich levels of phosphorus, potassium, folate and the antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin A. Finally, spinach is rich in the antioxidant lutein, with 3,659 mcg in a 1-cup serving.
Orange
Orange and yellow vegetables, including butternut squash, carrots and yellow peppers, tend to be rich in the antioxidant group carotenoids. Carotenoids also help support healthy eyes and may help prevent heart attacks. Sweet potatoes, like the other orange vegetables, contain high levels of the carotenoids, with 11,317 mcg of beta-carotene in a 1-cup serving alone. They are also rich in vitamin A, folate, potassium and phosphorus. Don't eat sweet potatoes raw, because your body absorbs the nutrients from a cooked sweet potato better.
Red
According to North Dakota State University, red vegetables such as tomatoes, beets and red peppers tend to be high in lycopene, a pigment that gives them their red color. Lycopene is an antioxidant that may help prevent cancer. Tomatoes are especially high in lycopene -- one cup of cherry tomatoes contains 3,834 mg. Tomatoes are also high in beta-carotene and potassium, with a 1-cup serving offering 669 mg of beta-carotene and 353 mg of potassium.
Other
The USDA lists some vegetables that are not grouped according to color-corresponding nutrient content, but are still rich in various vitamins and minerals. Some of these include asparagus, mushrooms and eggplant. Asparagus is rich in antioxidants, with 51 mcg of vitamin A, 951 mcg of lutein and 602 mg of beta-carotene in a 1-cup serving. Asparagus also has relatively high levels of vitamin K, folate and calcium.
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