Brits could help to lower their risk of developing some cancers by adding colourful fruit and vegetables to their plates. While there are many components to a healthy, balanced lifestyle, eating a variety of nutritious foods is essential for well-being. There's one colour in particular that people might want to look out for when visiting supermarkets.

According to the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, eating red fruit and vegetables may offer significant health benefits. In a downloadable PDF, the NHS Trust advises patients to 'eat a rainbow' to support their health.

The health experts said: "By eating fruits and vegetables of different colours, you are very likely to achieve a good range of vitamins and minerals for maintaining health and wellbeing. Certain colours are especially rich in protective compounds, and each fruit or veg varies in different vitamin and mineral contents."

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As such, people are recommended to 'eat a rainbow', which refers to the variety of colours that should be included in a healthy diet, and red is one of those colours. The NHS Trust explained: "Red fruits and veggies contain 'lycopene' which may help protect against certain cancers."

As such, people are advised to incorporate foods such as tomatoes, red peppers, watermelon, and pink grapefruit into their diet. Other colours to look out for include orange, yellow, green and purple.

Research shows that lycopene, a strong antioxidant in tomatoes and red fruits, might lower the chances of getting some cancers, especially prostate cancer, by decreasing oxidative stress and stopping tumour growth. Even though some studies indicate it has protective benefits, the results can be mixed.

The NHS Trust said: "Orange fruits and veggies are packed with ‘beta-carotene’, which the body converts to vitamin A for healthy skin. Yellow fruits and veggies contain ‘carotenoids’ – these protect our eyes. Green fruits and veggies contain energy giving compounds and iron which can help prevent anaemia. Purple fruits and veggies are a good source of ‘anthocyanins’ which are a great anti-ager."

For instance, squash, nectarines, apricots, sweetcorn, yellow peppers, spinach, green grapes, red grapes, aubergines, and plums could all count towards 'the rainbow'. Other choices could include carrots, mango, yellow courgettes, spring greens, kiwi fruit, red cabbage, and blackcurrants, though the list is not exhaustive.

People could therefore benefit from choosing a colour that's lacking in their diet and adding more fruit and vegetables. However, it's nonetheless important to maintain a good variety of fruit and vegetables. The NHS Trust said that eating five of the same colour only counts as one portion of fruit or vegetables.

The NHS recommends that everyone eats at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. The website explains: "The Five a Day campaign is based on advice from the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables a day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer."