Did you know that tomatoes are almost as popular as potatoes in the United States? At the New York Times, Caroline Hopkins reports that they are the second-most consumed vegetable in the US. (They are technically a fruit because they contain seeds, but nutritionists treat them as vegetables.) Tomatoes are really good for your health, so eat more of them!
Tomatoes have few calories. They are also hydrating, made up of 95 percent water. By comparison, human beings are made up of about 60 percent water.
Tomatoes also have lots of nutrients, including the antioxidant lycopene, folate, vitamin K and potassium. Eat them straight from the vine, dried in the sun or cooked, and you will benefit.
If you have “oxidative” stress, lycopene helps fight it and, in the process, reduces your risk of chronic inflammation and a variety of cancers.
It’s not certain that tomatoes and other foods loaded with lycopene will prevent cancer. No one can show cause and effect. But, the data show a correlation between high levels of lycopene and lower risk of prostate and lung cancer as well as a lower likelihood of heart and liver disease.
Redder tomatoes contain more lycopene, as do cooked tomatoes. Cooked tomatoes have less water, so have more concentrated levels of nutrients.
It’s not clear whether yellow and orange tomatoes have similar health benefits as red tomatoes, but people assume they do. Unlike green tomatoes, which have no lycopene, yellow and orange tomatoes have lycopene, though different in kind from red tomatoes.
It’s good to eat your tomatoes with olive oil or avocado. These healthy fats actually make it easier for your body to absorb the lycopene. Lycopene is fat-soluble.
Wash your tomatoes before eating them. One expert advises to wash them with a little distilled white vinegar mixed with water. The vinegar and water combination works better than water alone to remove anything on the surface of the tomato.
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