Tomato is a fruit that is used as a vegetable in most of the dishes cooked across the globe. It is one of the few fruits that is popularly used across all types of cuisines extensively. It has its origins in South America and comes in different types of colors.
Though the ripe tomato is predominantly red in color, you will find also find yellow, purple, green and orange tomatoes depending on the region where they are cultivated. Tomatoes are loaded with antioxidants, minerals and other essential nutrients that help to improve your overall health and reduce your risk to several serious diseases.
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Watch: Tomato Benefits
Top Benefits of Tomato
Here are some of the top benefits of tomato that will convince you to include it in your daily diet.
1. Loaded with many essential nutrients
The tomato is taken for granted when you use it in your daily cooking. However, did you know that the small, red fruit that you use as a vegetable comes loaded with powerful nutrients that boost your health? Almost 95% of the tomato is packed with water. Carbohydrates and fiber make for the remaining 5%.
Carbohydrates – Around 4 grams of carbs can be found in a small tomato. Glucose and Fructose are the majority components of these carbs.
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Fiber – One small tomato contains about 1.5 grams of fiber. Around 87% of these fibers are of the insoluble type. Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are some of the insoluble fibers that a tomato provides you.
Vitamin C – When you eat one tomato a day, you will get 28% of your daily recommended level of Vitamin C. Thanks to this ingredient, a tomato is considered to be one of the best foods to boost immunity and beat inflammations.
Potassium – There is a reasonable amount of potassium in one medium-sized tomato, which explains why this fruit reduces your risk to severe diseases such as cardiac ailments.
Vitamin B9 – Tomatoes are rich in folate, a type of Vitamin B. This ingredient helps in the normal functioning of tissues and cells.
Vitamin K1 – Doctors advise you to eat a tomato every day to improve the functioning of your bones and the blood clotting process in your body. This is because tomatoes are good sources of phylloquinone (Vitamin K1).
Apart from these vitamins and minerals, you will also find many enriching plant compounds in a tomato such as:
Lycopene
This is a red-colored carotenoid and antioxidant that is found in plenty in a tomato. The red color of the tomato is because of this antioxidant; therefore the redder the fruit, the more lycopene it has. Tomato-based products such as ketchup, sauces, and pastes may also have lycopene like fresh tomatoes. However, these products are processed varieties and may contain unhealthy sugars. Therefore, it is highly recommended to consume fresh tomatoes only for maximum lycopene absorption.
Beta Carotene
This is the antioxidant that gets transformed into Vitamin A in your body. Vitamin A is very important for the health of your eyes; therefore, tomatoes are believed to keep your eyes healthy and free from muscle-degeneration in the retina.
Naringenin
This is a flavonoid, an antioxidant, which is mostly found in the skin of the tomatoes. This particular ingredient is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Animal-based studies have proved that this helps to keep various serious ailments at bay.
Chlorogenic Acid
This is an antioxidant that is believed to regulate the blood pressure levels in people who are prone to chronic high blood pressure.
Now, we hope you understand that the red color is not only for making the tomato look attractive, but also the main reason for the numerous nutrients that are hidden inside it. If you have been removing the peel of tomatoes while cooking, stop the practice right now. It is the skin that contains most of the nutritious contents in tomato.
2. Good for the normal functioning of the heart
Many studies have proved that lycopene and beta carotene present in a tomato, is essential to reduce one’s risk to heart attacks, strokes, and high LDL cholesterol. The antioxidants present in the tomato help to fight against oxidative stress in your body and prevent all types of inflammation.
The Vitamin K present in the tomato makes the inner layer of blood vessels in the heart and other parts of the body function well, preventing bleeding and blockage of vessels.
3. May help in reducing your risk to certain types of cancer
Though more research is needed in this aspect, it is widely believed that women who consume tomatoes regularly are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
The high concentration of lycopene in tomato helps to fight against oxidative stress and free radicals to prevent cell degeneration. Apart from breast cancer, tomatoes are believed to make you less risky to stomach, lung and prostate cancers as well.
4. Helps to maintain the overall health of your skin
Lycopene and other plant compounds present in tomato help to keep your skin well-protected against sunburns and inflammation.
A group of people was asked to consume 40 grams of tomato paste mixed with a little bit of olive oil daily for 10 weeks. At the end of the 10th week, they stated that they experienced at least 40% fewer sunburns than their counterparts who didn’t consume the tomato paste.
5. Helps in strengthening the bones
Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamin K and calcium. Both these ingredients are extremely useful for strengthening your bones.
Every 100 grams of tomato is believed to provide you with 110 micrograms of calcium. Therefore, consuming tomatoes regularly will reduce your risk of bone-degeneration diseases such as arthritis and osteoporosis in your old age.
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6. Reduces the damages caused by smoking
Though tomatoes don’t nullify the bad effects of smoking, they surely help to reduce the damages that occur in the body of the active and passive smokers.
Thanks to the presence of chlorogenic acid and coumaric acid found in tomatoes, the negatives effects caused by smoking are reduced to some extent. {It is better to quit smoking, (and encourage others to do so too) as that can have far-reaching damaging effects on your body.}
7. Helps in smoothening your digestion process
Tomatoes are rich in fiber; therefore, they play a big role in the overall health of your digestive system. The high-fiber content in the tomatoes helps to reduce problems such as constipation and acidity. This is why your parents or grandparents tell you eat a piece of a ripe tomato at the end of a sumptuous meal.
8. Helps your body to burn fat quickly
Fitness experts suggest you include tomatoes in your diet regularly if you want to lose weight. This is because tomatoes promote the production of an amino acid called carnitine in the human body, which improves its fat-burning potential. According to studies, you can burn 30% more fat when you eat tomatoes than when you don’t.
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Points to note
Though tomatoes are safe foods, you should stay away from them if you are allergic to grass pollen or latex. Also, tomatoes contain Vitamin K which helps in blood clotting. So, if you are on blood-thinning medication, kindly consult your doctor before deciding to include tomatoes in your meals regularly.
Conclusion
If you aren’t allergic to grass pollen or latex and if you aren’t taking any blood-thinning medication currently, you have to start eating tomatoes every day starting today. The fruit is loaded with immensely beneficial plant compounds that you cannot afford to miss.