Knorr’s vivid new product concept: colourful is healthy

The more colourful the foods you eat, the more varied and thus the more nutritious your diet is: with the new ‘Eat in colour’ (‘Mangez en couleurs’ and ‘Come en colores’) product concept, Unilever Bestfoods has launched colourful soups from Knorr in Canada, France and Spain. The company is offering red, green, orange, yellow and white soups in combiblocCompact 500 ml. In France the soups are also available in combiblocStandard 1,000 ml.

Vividly coloured vegetables and fruits are packed with valuable nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fibre, as well as antioxidants. Intense colours are a sign of freshness, quality, ripeness and flavour. With these new products from Knorr, Unilever offers the perfect alternative to help the health-conscious consumer create varied and nutritious meals – especially for all those who simply do not have the time to prepare suitably colourful, balanced meals using fresh ingredients.

The ingredients for the individual recipes are selected and blended according to their colours. For the Canadian market, there is a red soup made from tomatoes, red peppers and chilli; peas, zucchini, spinach and chives are the main ingredients in the green soup. The basis for the orange soup is carrots, curry and pumpkin. The yellow soup delivers the best of carrots and corn.

For the French market, there is a white soup that combines asparagus, cauliflower and nutmeg; an orange soup with carrots, pumpkin, curry and orange; a red soup made from tomatoes, red peppers, red onions and curry; and a green soup with spinach, peas and chives. On the Spanish market the following varieties are offered: white soup with asparagus, cauliflower and nutmeg; orange soup with carrots, squash and orange; as well as the green soup based on spinach, peas and courgette. The recipes for each country have been formulated to suit local consumer preferences.

Colours keep you healthy

”Healthy eating does not require complicated guidelines. If you eat in colour, you are automatically getting a varied diet, and therefore eating better. If you eat in colour, you stay healthy“, says Andrea Hofbauer, dietologist and head of Unilever’s nutrition consultancy division. The reason for this is the phytochemicals contained in fruits and vegetables. There are around 30,000 known phytochemicals; these give fruits and vegetables their distinctive fragrance, flavour and colour and bring with them a whole array of other positive characteristics: according to studies, phytochemicals, of which human beings consume around 10,000 with their food, strengthen the immune system. They protect the cells, regulate blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and have a preventive effect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Powerful pigments

The pigments that give vegetables and fruits their colours are phytochemicals. Many natural pigments function as antioxidants and protect the somatic cells against aggressive free radicals. The most important plant pigments are carotinoids and flavonoids. Carotinoids are yellow, red, orange and green plant pigments including beta-carotene and lycopene. Beta-carotene protects the skin against UV rays and protects the cells from free radicals. Similarly, according to scientific studies, carotinoids are thought to have a preventive effect against cancer, heart attack and stroke. Moreover, the body uses beta-carotene to produce the important Vitamin A, which among other things is vital for the metabolism, sight and skin regeneration. And lycopene, found mainly in tomatoes is thought to bind free radicals and thus prevent cancer, vascular deposits and skin damage.

Flavonoids are yellow, red, purple and blue plant pigments. Through their antioxidative effect, they protect against cancer, heart attack and stroke. Flavonoids intensify the beneficial effects of other phytochemicals and vitamins. Further, they help improve blood flow, thus protecting against cardiovascular diseases. Flavonoids and carotinoids are temperature-resistant – this means that, for instance, lycopene is particularly well absorbed from sieved tomatoes.

For this reason, the colourful new soups from Knorr deliver a natural wealth of valuable nutrients such as vitamins, antioxidants and fibre. In addition, they contain Vitamins B6, C and E, which serve to boost the body’s defences.

To get consumers’ creative juices flowing when it comes to eating in colour, in Canada Unilever is bringing out the ‘Eat in colour’ cookbook to accompany the market launch of the new products. Upon purchasing two Knorr products, the customer receives a free copy of the book.