Tomatoes are nutrient-dense edible fruits that are always red, classified as fruit and vegetables belonging to the nightshade family.
It originated from West Southern America and but today. Tomatoes are everywhere in the world, including Nigeria, located in the Western Part of Africa.
Tomatoes contain some essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and others with lots of nutritional benefits.
13 Amazing Health Benefit of Tomatoes
1. Rich in Antioxidant
There are organic compounds called lycopene, the primary carotenoid in the human body, and a more robust antioxidant that protects the system from oxidative damage and prevents free radicals that cause cancer in the body.
The lycopene found in tomatoes protects the body against mouth and breast cancer and fights against cervical prostate cancer, prostate cancer, cancer of the rectum and stomach, and esophagus and pharynx cancers.
Consuming tomatoes will aid in preventing any chance of cancer in your body.
2. Promotes a Healthy Heart
Tomatoes are rich in dietary fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and chlorine, which help perform several different functions in the body system and the general maintenance of a healthy heart.
Tomatoes are effective in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
Therefore adding tomatoes to your daily diet will help prevent heart diseases like strokes, heart attacks, and other heart-related issues, thereby promoting a healthy heart.
3. Helps in Red Blood Cells Production
Iron is one of the nutritional elements contained in tomatoes, which helps produce red blood cells and is also part of hemoglobin binding with oxygen to facilitate its movement from the lungs through the arteries.
Iron is known to be an essential mineral needed in the body for blood production. Including tomatoes in your daily meal will provide the blood required for the proper functions in our body.
4. Good for the Eyes
Regular tomatoes can prevent specific eye problems and issues relating to vision and vitamin A deficiency due to vitamin A, lycopene, lutein, and beta-carotene in the tomatoes.
The presence of vitamin A in tomatoes helps in enhancing vision and prevents macular degeneration and night blindness.
It is an excellent food for your eye as it improves your vision and protects the eyes against any diseases.
5. Improves Bowel Movement
Studies show that tomatoes contain some laxative properties that loosen stool and improve bowel movements because of water content and the presence of fiber.
Tomatoes have lots of fiber which can help in reducing constipation. Adding tomatoes to your diet will fasten the digestion of the meal. It aids in bowel movement regulations, thereby enhancing digestive health.
6. Prevents Urinary Tract Infection
Tomatoes have high water content. They serve as diuretics that help in urine production in good quantity to flush out toxins from the body.
Regular intake of tomatoes aids a lot in protecting the body against urinary tract infection and bladder cancer.
Due to its high in water, tomatoes help remove excess water, salt, uric acid, and toxins from the body.
7. Promotes a Healthy Skin
Tomatoes contain a lot of lycopene. Lycopene is a substance that is for facial cleansing. Tomatoes are essential in maintaining the health of your skin.
Consuming tomatoes helps in reducing sunburn and helps in removing acne, wrinkles, pimples, and prevents damages to skin cells. Constant intake of tomatoes helps significantly in the skin's health, preventing all manners of skin diseases.
8. Helps in Diabetes Management
Tomatoes are an excellent food for people who have diabetes. Consuming tomatoes helps in lowering the oxidation stress of type 2 diabetes.
The lycopene found in tomatoes helps in restoring biochemical balance in people with diabetes.
Diabetic patients should regularly include tomatoes in their daily meals because it will help manage the condition.
9. Helps in Weight Loss
Consuming tomatoes can help significantly maintain weight due to their low in calories, high amount of water, and fiber that helps keep them full even after a long time, thereby contributing to weight maintenance.
It is an excellent food for people trying to lose weight due to its rich in soluble and insoluble fibers that play a vital role in reducing weight.
10. Good for Pregnant Women
It is a good source of natural folate, the same as folic acid, a synthetic form of folate required for protection against neural tube defection in pregnant mothers.
Regular consumption of folate is significant during pregnancy as it helps prevent neural defects in infants.
Folate is always good for pregnant women. So pregnant women should add this to their daily diet as it helps in providing them with folic acid, thereby promoting a healthy pregnancy.
11. Good for Men
Tomatoes are suitable for men because of their antioxidant properties of lycopene which has a beneficial effect on boosting sperm quality. It helps in increasing the overall sexual function and well-being of men.
Lycopene present in tomatoes aids blood vessels to relax, thereby improving blood circulation and blood flow in the pennies, resulting in a healthy erection.
Therefore it is recommended that men consume tomatoes regularly as it will contribute a lot to their sexual health.
12. Repairs Damages Caused by Smoking
Eating tomatoes cannot help in quitting smoking. Still, it will aid in repairing the damages caused by smoking because of chlorogenic acid and coumaric acid that prevents carcinogens produced by cigarette smoke from the body.
It is advisable to add tomatoes to your daily meal if you smoke cigarettes. It will help reduce and repair damages caused by smoking, knowing that cigarette smoking is very harmful to the human body.
13. Rich in Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin C is known to be a natural antioxidant that aids in preventing free radical damages.
It is also rich in vitamin A and potassium, which play a role in maintaining nerve health, and iron helps in blood circulation. Vitamin K found in it is also essential for the clotting of blood and controlling bleeding.
Side Effects
Consuming tomatoes has its side effects when it is overeating. Tomatoes contain a high content of acid, which can cause heartburn. It is pack with citric and malic acid that can make the stomach release gastric acid.
Excessive consumption of tomatoes can lead to kidney diseases due to their high content of potassium.
It can also cause intestinal issues. Consuming tomatoes all the time can result in urinary problems due to their acidic content. It can cause bladder issues.
Due to its acid content, it can cause stomach upset, and it makes the stomach release more acid, resulting in an acute gastrointestinal upset.
Those suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease should avoid overeating tomatoes in their raw form.
Final Thought
Tomatoes are an intensely nutritious fruit and vegetable food plant rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains about 40% of the daily vitamin C requirement, abundant vitamin A for eye health, and vitamin K for blood clotting and healing wounds.
It contains beneficial nutrients such as alpha-lipoic acid, folate (folic acid), lycopene, choline, beta-carotene, lutein which can be gotten when eaten raw or used for culinary purposes.
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