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I was raised with the concept that somehow green veges are especially important in the diet.

If I was to regularly consume veges of other colours instead (such as purple cabbage, carrots, white cauliflower) and not green veges, would it impact my health?

I'm not aware of any compounds commonly giving a green colour other than chlorophyll, so perhaps the presence of chlorophyll is the key difference between green and non-green veges.

This information suggests there are substantial benefits to consuming chlorophyll, however it certainly doesn't go as far as comparing the benefits of eating green veges against eating other veges. It may be that other colours of veges contain just as much of beneficial compounds as green veges.

Many other articles claiming you should "eat your greens", such as this one, seem to largely interpret "greens" as veges of any colour (as they focus mainly on the benefits that you can get from eating veges of any colour). However, I believe a very common interpretation of "eat your greens" is a literal interpretation, when perhaps this shouldn't be the case.

Further references to support that "Eat Your Greens" is a notable claim to question:

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According to the FAQ, Skeptics.SE is for researching the evidence behind the claims you hear or read. This question doesn't appear to have any doubtful claims to investigate and it seems more of a nutrition question. Also see if this answers it. Please edit it to reference a notable claim and flag for moderator attention to re-open (or get 5 re-open votes). – Sklivvz♦ Apr 29 '12 at 21:31
Hmm, ok, well the question you linked to doesn't seem to differentiate between green vegetables and others. The difference may simply be the presence of chlorophyll (as far as I'm aware, there's nothing else that makes a plant green, though I might just not have heard about it I suppose), or there may be other compounds that green veges contain that other veges don't. The claim I have heard is that it's important to eat our greens, but I've never heard an explanation as to why green veges are any better than others. I'll see if I can find some more info on it. – Highly Irregular Apr 29 '12 at 22:01
@skliwz, I've added the best information I could find. Hopefully you'll agree that there's a substantial difference to existing questions, and that it's a question worth asking; I believe it is. – Highly Irregular Apr 29 '12 at 22:32
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Your source does not say that eating green veggies is good for you not that eating other colors is not/less good for you. As you point out generally though called greens all veggies are generally included even those that are not green in appearance. And some green foods would not be included in the category of "greens you should eat." You have a notability problem because of this. – Chad Apr 30 '12 at 14:27

closed as off topic by Sklivvz♦ Apr 29 '12 at 21:31

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