Everyone knows that tomatoes are healthy. But what happens if you actually eat them every day? Read here about the health benefits of tomatoes – and when you need to be careful.
Whether yellow, red or green – tomatoes are among the most popular vegetables in Germany. But is the tomato even a vegetable? According to the food definition, this is so, according to the botanical classification, however, it is a type of fruit.
Is the tomato a vegetable?
Tomatoes thus fall into a third category, namely the so-called variety of fruit vegetables. This means that although tomatoes are considered vegetables, they also have characteristics of fruit varieties.
No matter which genus the tomato belongs to, it is full of positive ingredients and can change your health in the long term.
Do tomatoes really age slower?
Tomatoes are a real vitamin C booster. If you eat them regularly, your skin will improve, among other things. In addition, there is lycopene in the tomato – this is what gives it its mostly bright red color. Lycopene also increases the skin’s natural UV protection.
Of course, you shouldn’t go out in the sun entirely without sunscreen, but the tomato at least slows down skin aging and wrinkling.
water retention? Not with the tomato!
Tomatoes are a good weight loss food. They have just 21 calories per 100 grams. Tomatoes also contain a lot of potassium. This makes them particularly detoxifying. And they help reduce water retention in the body.
This is a real boon for the kidneys, as they can process excess uric acid more easily. The large number of minerals and vitamins boosts the metabolism and strengthens the immune system.
Tomatoes strengthen muscles
A Japanese study found that consuming tomatoes can slow down age-related muscle loss. The researchers examined the hand grip strength of 259 adult Japanese men and women over a period of three years.
The result: the starch in the hand remained stable in the participants who regularly consumed tomatoes.
Lower risk of cancer from tomatoes?
Some meta-studies suggest that the lycopene in tomatoes may reduce both prostate and breast cancer risk.
In a meta-study, researchers compared 17 different research approaches examining the effect of lycpoin on the risk of prostate cancer. The result shows that an increased level of lycopene in the blood can actually reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
Another study examined women with an increased risk of cancer. They ate a lot of tomatoes – and that led to the substance adiponectin being formed in their bodies.
How exactly the effect between tomatoes and breast cancer is related, however, has yet to be researched or proven in further studies.