Health Benefits Of Tomatoes

Health Benefits Of Tomatoes

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Tomatoes are a food with great health benefits for the body. Although availability was limited due to their growth season in the past, tomatoes are now readily available at a year round basis. Even if you cant find any fresh tomatoes, the nutritional benefit of these super foods can be found in processed foods as well. Spaghetti and pizza sauce, ketchup, and barbecue sauce all have the same health benefits as the fruit.

Lycopene

Lycopene is a member of the carotenoid family and is responsible for the red pigment of the tomato. More importantly for our bodies, lycopene has been extensively studied and praised for its antioxidant and cancer-preventing properties. Studies done in the 1980s showed that people who ate large amounts of tomatoes were far less likely to die from a variety of cancer types as compared to those who ate little to no tomatoes. Another stuyd showed that lycopene introduced into pre-existing cancer cell cultures also prevented the continued growth of those cultures.

In addition to its cancer prevention benefits, lycopene plays a key role in the antioxidant defense of the skin. It can raise your skins sun protection factor (SPF) by up to 33% acting as a natural internal sunblock! Animal studies have shown that tomatoes can also lower the risk for age related macular degeneration, but human studies have shown mixed results and need more research.

It should be noted that lycopene is fat soluble. This means it needs a bit of dietary fat to be transported into the bloodstream. So although a whole tomato is not a good source of the nutrient, any tomato-based food prepared with some type of oil will give your body the health benefits. Also organic tomatoes have three times as much lycopene as non-organic brands.

Cardiovascular protection

In addition to lycopene, vitamin C and beta-carotene also act as powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants preserve cell membranes from inflammatory damage which hinders the progression of atherosclerosis. In fact, a German study showed that men who suffered from heart attacks had much lower lycopene levels than those who did not.

Tomatoes also contain potassium, niacin, vitamin B6, and folate, all of which promote heart health. Potassium has been shown to help reduce systolic blood pressure. Niacin reduces your LDL levels while increasing your HDL cholesterol, which reduces your risk of heart attack. Vitamin B6 and folate help to lower levels of homocysteine in your body. High levels of homocysteine are often linked to an increase risk of heart disease and stroke.

Bottom Line

What you should take away from reading this article is that if you arent already eating tomatoes, you should be. Not only are tomatoes readily available for purchase at your local grocery store, processed tomato-based foods also contain the nutritional benefit of the fruit. It is recommended to get between seven and ten servings of lycopene-rich foods per day to give you the health benefits it provides. This equates to about 30 mg per day. Tomato paste provides 75.4 mg in one cup, puree has 54.4 mg in a cup and tomato soup contains 26.4 mg in one cup.

About the Author:
Clinton is an independent distributor for the health and wellness company, Kyani. Please click on the link to learn about the company and the amazing health products that have been changing the lives of many people.

Also check out some more of my health articles on topics such as antioxidants.

Feel free to PM for more info. Thanks!



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