Issue Date: August 26, 2001
Catch up
Have you heard the latest news? If not, find out why
TOMATOES are suddenly today's hottest health
food.
Call it the revenge of the tomatoes. Until the 1800s, Americans considered tomatoes a poisonous fruit, either rarely eaten or boiled for hours to destroy its "toxins." In traditional nutrition, tomatoes are wimps with some vitamin C and a smidgen of beta carotene.
But recently scientists have discovered spectacular secrets in tomatoes - various disease-fighting antioxidants, including the red pigment lycopene and an anti-clotting agent known as "P3 tomato factor." These discoveries have transformed the tomato into a hot health food, increasingly believed to help prevent and even reverse disease.
Experts urge you to eat more tomatoes in any form - fresh or canned, raw or cooked, or processed in soups or as sauce, paste, juice or ketchup.
The latest remarkable reasons why:
Fights cancer. Researchers have known tomatoes
might help prevent certain cancers; in a Harvard study, eating
lycopene-rich tomato sauce two to four times weekly cut prostate cancer
risk by 35%. The news is that lycopene may even shrink existing prostate
tumors. Before surgery, one group of prostate cancer patients at the
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit was given lycopene
extract for three weeks; another group got a placebo. Tumors in the
lycopene group were smaller and less likely to spread.
Protects lungs. Eating tomatoes helps shield
lungs from bad air and cigarette smoke. In a University of North Carolina
test, people were exposed to high levels of ozone, an air pollutant. Those
who drank a 12-ounce can of tomato-heavy V-8 juice daily in the three-week
test showed 20% less DNA damage in lung cells than those not getting V-8.
Other research suggests lycopene helps ward off lung cancer.
Combats heart disease. Tomatoes can make you less
prone to clogged arteries and heart disease. Dramatic new evidence from
Finland shows that middle-aged men with low lycopene are three times more
apt to suffer heart attacks or strokes and 18% more apt to have narrowed
carotid (neck) arteries. Probable reasons: Tomatoes help detoxify bad LDL
cholesterol, hindering plaque building. In one test, eating 60 milligrams
of lycopene daily (the amount in 11/2 cups of tomato sauce or 2.2 pounds
of fresh tomatoes) for three months reduced LDL cholesterol by 14%. Also,
an aspirinlike substance in the yellow jelly around tomato seeds helps
thwart blood clots, according to Scottish research. The amount in only
four tomatoes reduced clot-provoking blood stickiness by a surprising 72%.
Vision saver. Tomatoes may protect the
eyes by deterring macular degeneration, a cause of vision loss in older
people, suggests new University of Maryland research that found high
levels of lycopene in eye tissue.
Skin saver. New German research shows that eating 1.3 ounces of tomato
paste daily reduced sun-induced skin damage by 40%.
Brain food. Tomatoes are anti-aging nourishment for the brain. In a classic study, elderly women with the highest lycopene blood levels remained the most mentally and physically active.
To get the greatest benefit ...
 Eat at least five weekly servings of tomato-based foods.
Eat tomatoes cooked, processed and prepared with a little olive oil. Heating helps release lycopene, and you get the most lycopene in concentrated, processed products such as tomato paste and sauce, canned tomatoes, juice, soup and ketchup. Still, Americans get half their lycopene from raw tomatoes. In new tests at Ohio State University, over a two-week period, blood lycopene was raised 192% by a daily serving of tomato sauce, 122% by tomato soup and 92% by V-8 juice. Other research shows that adding olive oil to tomatoes increases lycopene absorption.
Eat a variety. Lycopene isn't the sole tomato power. For example, tomato soup has more antioxidant activity than can be attributed to lycopene alone, meaning it contains other antioxidants. Raw tomatoes are lower in lycopene but still may be good at combatting blood clots.
Jean Carper is the author
of Your Miracle Brain.
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Power Pasta
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 pound ground turkey breast
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes in sauce
1 Tb. fennel seeds
1 tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup diced or crumbled
feta cheese
8 ounces ridged or curly pasta,
cooked and drained
In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Sautè garlic and green pepper
3 minutes. Add turkey; sautè
5 minutes or until turkey turns white. Add tomatoes, fennel seeds, oregano, salt, pepper.
Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in feta; serve over pasta.
Serves: 4.
Per serving: 444 calories, 58g carbohydrates, 26g protein, 12.1g fat (3.8g saturated), 3.3g fiber, 537mg sodium.
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Scientific Sources for this article:
Fights Cancer:
-- Meeting April 10, 2001 at American Health Foundation
Protects Lungs
-- American Health Foundation meeting, April 10, 2001
-- Kim DJ. Biofactors 2000; 13(1-4): 95-102
Combats Heart Disease:
-- Rissanen, T.H. British J Nutr 2001 Jun; 85(6): 749-54
-- Rissanen T. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2000 Dec; 20(12):2677-81
-- Irbarren C. Artherioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1997; 17:1171-7
-- Fuhrman B. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1997; 233: 658-62
-- unpublished research by Asim Dutta-Roy, Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen
Skin and Vision Saver:
-- Stahl W., J Nutr 2001 May; 131(5):1449-51
-- Frederick Khachik, American Health Foundation conference, April, 2001
Brain
-- Snowdon, D., J. Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci; 51(1): 10-16, 1996
Get the most lycopene from tomatoes
-- Steven K. Clinton, OSU, Columbus, Ohio, presented at American Health Foundation conference, April, 2001
-- Lee A. Free Radic Biol Med 2000 Nov 15; 29(10): 1051-5
Unknown antioxidants.
-- Detroit's Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
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