Tomatoes get a bad reputation, and most of this reputation has to do with old wives’ tales. It is true that tomatoes are a nightshade fruit, but nightshades are not a bad word like everyone mistakenly thinks. They are a nightshade fruit, because tomatoes contain small amounts of alkaloids, and the alkaloid found in tomatoes is solanine. Solanine acts as a natural insecticide, while the tomatoes are growing and sprouting. Solanine can cause an increase in any inflammation you already have in your body and a feeling of nausea, but that only happens if you eat basically your body weight in tomatoes every day. Tomatoes are my favorite food, and even I don’t eat that many tomatoes in one day. Also, with respect to tomatoes, most of the alkaloids are found in the stem and vine. The tomatoes themselves don’t actually contain many alkaloids. And, for that matter, the riper the tomato, the less alkaloids are found in such tomato.
Tomatoes actually contain a handful of very important and critical health benefits (as long as you are eating organic vine ripened tomatoes).
The antioxidant lycopene is found in tomatoes, and lycopene has the potential to reduce the likelihood of heart disease and certain types of cancer, such as prostate cancer.
Beta-carotene is also found in tomatoes, and we all know beta-carotene is extremely beneficial to your eye health, including eye sight. Also, tomatoes contain Vitamin A and Vitamin C, which are very important to your health and well-being.
They also help prevent inflammation, so while everyone worries that tomatoes are causing or increasing inflammation in the body, in reality, tomatoes are decreasing inflammation. Tomatoes also contain folate, iron, potassium, and phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acid, chlorogenic, and ferulic acid.
Tomatoes could also help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease; studies now show a connection between tomato consumption and a reduction in hypertension and the risk of atherosclerosis.
Furthermore, tomatoes are now also known to lessen the likelihood of neurodegenerative diseases, such as, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cerebral ischaemia associated with strokes. It also means that tomatoes could help limit or even prevent multiple sclerosis, which is also a neurodegenerative disease.
Tomato seeds and tomato extract could also help prevent skin aging and skin diseases, such as psoriasis.
It lastly could be the case that tomatoes can increase fertility, because tomatoes contain folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Vitamin E, and some studies have shown that women who have high levels of these have an easier time conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy to full term.
In my opinion, tomatoes are a superfood.
So, what is the best way to eat tomatoes to receive all of these health benefits?
To get the largest benefit of eating tomatoes, it is suggested that you should consume tomatoes in all ways—meaning raw, juiced, roasted, boiled, and baked. One important thing to note, though, is that it is crucial that you eat organic tomatoes to avoid being overloaded with pollutants, such as pesticides, soil herbicides, atmospheric gaseous pollutants, and ethylene gas. All of those pollutants will overshadow all of the health benefits of tomatoes, and in some cases, those pollutants will wipe out the antioxidants contained in tomatoes.
I hope this post helps you feel more comfortable when consuming tomatoes. I mean, after all, who doesn’t love a good blood mary, pasta with tomato sauce, or a good Greek salad, and now you know that there are health benefits in the drinks and foods that contain tomatoes.
Here’s to being well preserved.
Always,
Taylor
