Green Pepper Nutrition

Green pepper's a fruit cum vegetable and is more popularly known as, yes, you guessed it right, capsicum. Basically in the understanding of a common man, anything that we consume in our food is stated as a vegetable. However, if you speak about it formally, bell peppers are fruits which originate from the Capsicum annum species. If one considers all the types of peppers, then you will see that these yields come from a very colorful family. They aren't solely famous for their green color, but also come in other colors like yellow, red and orange. Well, over the recent years, many agricultural researches and studies have proven green peppers as one of the best sources of nutrients. Also, the consumption of this vegetable has rapidly increased from an average of 8 pounds to 10 pounds per person. Why is this? Of course, primarily it waves its righteous green pepper nutrition flag as mentioned by researchers. So now the question is, what are the actual reasons for this so-called great source of nutrients acclamation.

As green pepper bell has earned it's sweet name in the culinary world with its crunchy and rich taste, one serving of the same works wonders in a human body. Read below and you will believe me.

Green Pepper Provides...

Staple Nutrition
As per the studies of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a medium-sized green pepper bell contains 24 calories (cal), 3 grams (g) of sugar, certainly 2 grams (g) of dietary fiber and beneficially 1 milligram (mg) of protein. Now that's quite a lot of nutrients to have in one tiny fruit. Proteins and amino acids are considered as building blocks of body muscles and organs in our body. Now, although it's seen that capsicum have other acids like serine, threonine, leucine, lysine and so on present in them, they are definitely not in an adequate proportion to condition out as adept bodies of proteins.

Vitamin C
You may consider bell pepper as one of the best sources for vitamin C. A medium-sized capsicum contains 95.7 (mg) of vitamin C. This figure any day beats the amount of nutrients that are found in an orange even (63.5 mg). But just like an orange which we gobble down as in whole, it's not possible to eat an entire capsicum at once. Thus if we consider a minor part of it in a serving, like say 'one of its diced rings', that much would measure up 8 mg of vitamin C. Another plus point of vitamin C is, first; it helps in curing small injuries in the body. Second; it pumps the immune system and balances the female hormonal levels. And third; it provides a building block for the muscular systems.

Other Vitamins
Not simply best in vitamin C, but they are a great source of Vitamin B6, vitamin K and vitamin A as well. If you experiment cutting out 10 strips of this bell pepper and measure it up, the least you will see its contents weighing up to 21.7 mg. With so many vitamins present in this edible fruit, bell pepper certainly facilitates blood clotting and fights infection caused in the body. Seems like the vitamins list would never end. Other small amounts of vitamins present are folate, thiamine, vitamin E, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin.

Minerals
It's true that green peppers are a good source of minerals. But minerals which are present are scarce in amount. However, the two abundant qualifiers are manganese and potassium. A medium-sized serving would assist 9% of DV (daily value) and 7 % of potassium for the same. While manganese that is present in bell pepper helps in balancing the glucose levels in the body and also strengthening the bones and the muscles, on the other side, potassium plays a vital role too. It helps in appropriate functioning of the muscles and poises urination and water retention in the body. Iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and lastly copper are the remaining minerals present in trace amounts. They play their part of strengthening teeth, bones, carrying oxygen through the body, proper nerve functions, DNA creation, maintenance of pH level in the body and much more.

Other Nutrients
Besides the staple nutrients like proteins and few acids present in green pepper, fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 are present there as well. In a medium-sized vegetable, the content of omega-3 fatty acids is 64.3 mg and that of omega-6 fatty acids is 9.5 mg. Speaking besides the green color bells, pepper bells which are orange and red in color have adequate amounts of zeaxanthin and lutein antioxidants present in them. These antioxidants are present in quite a high amount. About 10.7 mg of phytosterols are present in this fruit. This definitely lowers the bad LDL cholesterol level in the body.

Some Considerations
The portion size is an important aspect when one considers the research regarding bell pepper. Mostly studies have proven this vegetable to have yields that are free and low in cholesterol both fat and calorie wise. It is seen that a medium-sized portion serves 10% of the daily value of dietary fibers. This in a way advances regulatory bowels and certainly prevents one from diabetes or any other heart diseases. Since omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are present in this vegetable, they help in preventing cardiovascular diseases in the body.

It's not always necessary to cook green pepper before consuming, you can wash them and eat them raw as well. Unless some people like me have a different approach to consume this so-called vegetable, I would love to have it stuffed with a delicious savvy green pepper recipe. I usually cook these yields the same way quite often at my home. Making a stuffed version is simple and healthy. Create a simple mixture of say mashed potatoes and cheese and clean the inner portion of the pepper bells. Once you do that, stuff the mixture inside the bells and bake them or fry them.

Green Pepper Nutrition Facts

Green Peppers
Calories 33	Calories from Fat 3
	% Daily Value
Total Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Potassium 287mg	8%
Sodium 5mg	0%
Total Carbohydrate 7.5g	3%
Dietary Fiber 2.8g	11%
Protein 1.5g	3%
Sugars 4g	11%
Vitamin A 12%	Vitamin C 220%
Calcium 2%	Iron 3%

Green peppers are available throughout the year and even throughout the world. They particularly and abundantly are cultivated in places like California and Florida. Get a bite of these rich in quality, smooth-skinned and not so bell like-looking bell peppers in your breakfasts or meals.