Health Benefits of Tomatoes

Tomatoes offer several health benefits due to their low-carb and low-sugar content. To highlight the advantages of tomatoes, the five major health benefits of tomatoes are stated below. You will also get to know about the nutritional value of tomatoes along with some other details in this piece.

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What Are the 5 Main Health Benefits of Tomatoes?

The vast usage of tomatoes across the world shows their various benefits in restoring great health in many. Here are the five main health benefits of tomatoes that one must know:

Improves Skin Health

One of the significant health benefits of eating tomatoes includes it protects skin from sun damage. In addition to this, tomato paste with honey has usability worldwide to remove hyper-pigmentation, sunspots and other marks. It promotes the level of collagen production and cell regeneration, ensuring clearer and glowing skin.

Acts as a Cancer Barrier

The higher amount of lycopene in tomatoes restricts the unmanageable abnormal cell growth. It thus protects the human body from lung, stomach and breast cancer to a great extent.

Prevents Heart Disease

Adding tomatoes to the everyday diet prevents the chances of heart strokes and clotting in the arteries. This is instigated by the presence of higher traces of lycopene and beta-carotene. These plant-based components help to check the bad cholesterol or LDL, thus being the primary health benefits of tomatoes.

Manages Blood Sugar Level

There are several studies that show that regular consumption of tomatoes manages type 2 diabetes. This is followed by lowering the lipid peroxidation and preventing the free radicals from attacking. The properties contained in tomatoes check diabetes and also prevent the occurrence of strokes.

Helps to Improve Vision

Tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene, lutein and beta-carotene. These plant-based components are responsible for protecting the corneas and preventing eye conditions like macular degeneration and cataracts.

What Are the Nutritional Values of Tomatoes?

The nutritional values of tomatoes (100 grams) are provided below -

Component	Quantity
Calories	16
Sodium	5 mg
Fat	0.5 mg
Carbohydrates	3.5 g
Fibre	1.1 g
Sugar	2.4 g
Protein	0.8 g
Vitamin K	7.2 mcg
Vitamin C	12.5 mg

How to Include Tomatoes in Your Diet?

The profound advantages of tomatoes can be enjoyed by adding them to the diet in different ways. Although botanically, the tomato is from a fruit family, various cuisines across the world use tomatoes as vegetables. From Indian cuisine to Italian, chefs from all over the world use tomatoes in curries as well as to make authentic pasta sauce.

Eating Tomatoes as Raw

There are some significant benefits of eating raw tomatoes, which are great for bones, skin and hair. In addition to this, eating raw tomatoes also regulates blood sugar levels, and the present antioxidants work as an immunity booster.

Consuming Tomato Soup

Originating from Spanish cuisine, tomato soup or popularly known as Gazpacho, is an extraordinary dish during the summer months. Tomato soup is comfort food and has promising benefits during severe inflammation or fever.

Adding It to a Salad

From Mediterranean cuisine to Italian, tomatoes serve as the main ingredient in making scrumptious salads. Mostly, global chefs use exotic cherry tomatoes with other fresh vegetables to prepare classic Caprese salads. The sweet and sour flavours of this powerful food make it extremely appetising.

Making the Authentic Pasta Sauce

Tomatoes are the main ingredients that chefs use to make authentic marinara sauce. So, while making red sauce pasta or pasta Bolognese, Italian chefs will use freshly crushed tomato puree to make these traditional recipes.

Using Tomatoes in Traditional Recipes

The use of tomatoes in traditional recipes across the globe started in the medieval period. The famous recipe, Ratatouille from the popular Disney movie, Ratatouille, includes perfectly cut tomato, eggplant and zucchini. Similarly, in Indian cuisine, roasted tomato puree plays an important role in making Chicken Butter Masala.

What Are the Side Effects of Overeating Tomatoes?

Amidst there are several health benefits of tomatoes, overeating this vegetable will lead to countless health issues. A few of those side effects include -

Kidney Stones

Tomatoes are a rich source of calcium and oxalate. But, when these compounds are present in large quantities within the body, they are not easily metabolised and can cause kidney stones.

Acid Reflux

As tomatoes have citric acid and malic acid, consuming too much can cause acid reflux and heat burn. This acid reflux primarily develops from the production of gastric acid in the stomach.

Joint Pain

The presence of solanine can cause pain and swelling in joints. Also, this component can build calcium in tissues that might cause inflammation.

Allergies

The histamine content of tomatoes can cause allergies in a few individuals. So, if you have allergies, it will be best to avoid those.

Diarrhoea

Although it is pretty rare, some people can experience diarrhoea due to the presence of the bacterium salmonella.

Who Should Avoid Eating Tomatoes?

Surprisingly, despite possessing countless positive benefits, several medical practitioners and nutritionists recommend patients not consume tomatoes under certain conditions.

Most importantly, doctors prescribe individuals having uric acid and low blood pressure not to eat tomatoes due to the presence of lycopene. In addition, they suggest preventing the consumption of tomatoes by people suffering from acute or chronic indigestion or gastric stomach ulcers mostly because of the presence of a higher amount of citric acid.

Although there are cases where the consumption of tomatoes can be detrimental to health, tomatoes serve a wide array of purposes in the kitchen as well as in the beauty regime. Keeping the health benefits of tomatoes in mind, it is always advisable to consume this vegetable mindfully.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What are the side effects of eating too many tomatoes?

Though tomatoes serve many useful benefits, there can be negative effects of overeating tomatoes which mostly includes inflammations due to severe acid reflux, irritable bowels syndrome, bloating, increasing the chances of kidney stones, etc.

What is the reason behind causing inflammation due to eating tomatoes?

Primarily, the presence of citric acid creates a serious influx of acid which causes bloating and inflammation or heartburn in most people. More prominently, the consumption of tomatoes produces solanine which is a toxin that instigates these ailments.