Admittedly I’m not sure if this is a biology or chemistry question.
I know green, yellow, orange, and red bell peppers are all just different stages of ripness.
According to the post I saw
Green stage, they have:
– 132 mg Vitamin C
– 607 IU Vitamin A
Yellow stage, they have:
– 341 mg Vitamin C
– 372 IU Vitamin A
Orange stage, they have:
– 147 mg Vitamin C
– 530 IU Vitamin A
Red stage, they have:
– 209 mg Vitamin C
– 5,135 IU Vitamin A.
So according to the post, the nutrition content going by:
Green -> Yellow -> Orange -> Red:
Vitamin C in mg:
132 -> 341 -> 147 -> 209
Vitamin A in IU:
607 -> 372 -> 530 -> 5,135
How could Vitamin C be over double the green in the yellow stage, then nearly lose all of that increase in the orange stage just to climb back up some in the red stage. And why is there a Vitamin A dip in yellow stage before spike its way up x3 between orange and red.
The only conclusion I’m able to form (with my obvious state of no knowledge here) is that the post is a bit off.
Image attachment wasn’t allowed on the post, my apologies. 😅 Thanks for advance to anyone willing to educate.
Comments
> According to the post I saw
This is a good lesson in not trusting random posts! The below information is taken from a variety of primary sources;
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9839908/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15186108/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7725947_The_effects_of_ripening_stage_and_processing_systems_on_vitamin_C_content_in_sweet_peppers_Capsicum_annuum_L
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889157597905445
So generally, vitamins C and A go up linearly as the fruit ripens. The “dip” is misinformation… kinda.
The hidden variable here that may explain what that post is trying to say is that industrial processing of fruit reduces its nutrition. Less-ripe peppers (i.e. green) do not need to be as processed to stay fresh on the shelf. Red peppers need to be washed, flash-frozen, stored in nitrogen, or otherwise processed to keep them looking fresh on the shelf. These processes can reduce vitamin content.
Not every bell pepper variety goes from green to yellow to orange to red. There will be something of a gradient as the pepper ripens but some varieties won’t make it to red and others will go rapidly from green to orange.
The presence of the vitamins mentioned are the things that control its color. Vitamin C is yellow. As it reacts with oxygen it turns light orange. Vitamin A is a rusty orange color. The more vitamin A the more red a pepper will be.
All varieties start as green because of the chloroplasts in the plant cells. However as the fruitifn body (pepper) ripens a sugar is concentrated in those cells, the chloroplasts die off. This leaves behind the vitamins concentrated in those cells as the primary source of the color.
If you separate out orange and red as the end products you’ll see the vitamin A concentration in the orange stage is building to red OR the vitamin C concentration from yellow is oxidizing down until it stops at orange.
Side note: the presence of these vitamins are also what gives fall leaves their color.