Health Benefits That Comes With Eating Tomatoes

Tomatoes are often considered to be both fruits and vegetables. Taking daily consumptions of tomatoes helps boost up your health and may also add flavor to your foods. One medium whole tomato contains around 22 calories. Tomatoes are delicious to be eaten raw, in meals (such as in salads or on sandwiches) and it also adds on wonderful sweetness when cooked. Here are some health benefits of tomatoes:

Tomatoes contain high level of lycopene, which is a substance that is found in most pricy facial cleanser. Tomatoes are also known to cure severe sunburns. Additionally, daily consumption of tomatoes also helps protect the skin against UV-induced erythema.

Tips:

• If you want to try tomatoes for skin care, you need to start with about eight to twelve tomatoes.
• Peel the tomatoes and then place the skin on your face with inside of the tomato touching your skin.
• Leave the tomatoes on your face for a minimum of ten minutes, then wash.
• Your face will feel clean and shiny, some redness may occur, but will eventually fade.

As I've mention previously, tomato contains large amount of lycopene which act as an antioxidant that is highly effective in removing cancer substances in our body. Lycopene can also be found in most tomato products such as ketchup. The lycopene in tomatoes works best in fighting prostate cancer, cervical cancer, cancer of the stomach, rectum, pharynx and esophageal cancers. According to Harvard School of Public Health, eating tomatoes also help protects against breast cancer and cancer of the mouth.

Cooked tomatoes contain even more lycopene than raw ones. This is because the process of cooking breaks down the cell walls hence releasing more lycopene. Additionally, eating tomatoes with a little bit of fat such as olive oil, helps our body to absorbed lycopene more efficiently.

The two main ingredients of tomatoes which are coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid helps fight against nitrosamines which are produced in the body and are the main carcinogens found in cigarettes. The presences of vitamin A in such high quantities in tomato are also shown to help reduce the effects of carcinogens and protect you against lung cancer. Unfortunately, tomato DOES NOT makes you stops smoking.

Vitamin A in tomatoes aid to improve vision, as well as prevents night-blindness and muscular degeneration. A lot of vision problems occur due to the negative effects of free radicals; hence the vitamin A in tomato helps improve or even better, it helps prevent vision impairment as it provides a powerful antioxidant that may reduce these free radicals.

Tomatoes contain important nutrients, such as niacin, folate and vitamin B6 that are found to have been associated with the reduction of the risk of heart disease. One study found that women who ate about 7 to 10 servings of tomato products per week had a 29% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compare to women who consumed less than a serving as well as those who consume only a half of the tomato products each week.

Tomatoes provide lots of vitamin C which act as a natural antioxidant. A single tomato is found to provide about 40% of our daily vitamin C requirement. Tomato also contains abundant of vitamin A, potassium, and iron. Potassium helps maintain nerve health, whereby iron is essential for maintaining normal blood health. Vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting and helps to control bleeding, can also be found in tomatoes.

Daily consumption of tomatoes reduces the risk of developing hypertension, also known as high blood pressure. This is mainly due to the levels of potassium found in tomatoes. Potassium is a vasodilator, which means that it reduces the tension in blood vessels and arteries, therefore increasing blood circulation and lowering the stress level on the heart by eliminating hypertension.

A study found that drinking a glass of tomato juice a day can reduce blood levels of TNF-alpha by 34%. TNF-alpha is what causes inflammation. High levels of TNF-alpha have been found in individuals with most chronic, degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's.

The high water-content in tomato helps stimulate urination, so tomato can be said to be a diuretic in certain ways. Due to the high water-content in tomato, this also helps to increases the elimination of toxins from the body which also includes the excess water, salts, uric acid, and some of the fat as well.

Tomatoes keep the digestive system healthy by preventing both constipation and diarrhea. Tomatoes also help prevents jaundice and effectively removes toxins from the body. Furthermore, tomatoes have a large amount of fiber, which can reduce the symptoms of constipation. A healthy amount of fiber can helps regulate your bowel movements; therefore improving your overall digestive system and this also help you to avoid conditions like colorectal cancer.

Source: www.organicfacts.net, www.fitday.com and www.floridatomatoes.org