Tomatoes are widely used throughout the world. That’s not the only reason why tomatoes are good for you.
Tomatoes are famous for their health benefits. Here you will learn the top 9 health benefits of tomatoes.
These benefits will prove why tomato is good for you.
Are tomatoes good for you?
Tomatoes are a high source of useful nutrients and contribute to good health. These nutrients provide a wide range of health benefits.
Tomatoes are good for your
- Heart
- Skin
- Gut
- Eye
- Liver
Let’s discover the major benefits of eating tomatoes.
Health Benefits of Tomato
Tomatoes are extremely healthy fruit. It’s a low-carb fruit also, i.e tomatoes are under the keto fruit list.
Tomatoes are a great source of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Because of these nutrients, tomatoes provide numerous health benefits and prevent multiple disorders.
Here we have covered the most important health benefits of tomatoes. These benefits will save you from several deadly diseases.
Are Tomatoes Good for Your Heart
Tomatoes are good for your heart also. This food is highly nutritious and contains multiple components which make your heart healthy.
Phytosterols is one such compound found in tomatoes. This component is involved in the prevention of heart diseases.
Beta-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol are the main phytosterols responsible for the reduction of heart diseases.
Also, vitamin C, E, and phenolic compounds are present in tomatoes. These nutrients fortify the heart by protecting the cell membrane against lipid peroxidation.
Another nutrient of tomato is dietary fiber. It protects against heart diseases. Also, the bioactive components of tomatoes reduce mortality by preventing CVD disorders.
Tomato Benefits for Skin
Studies have shown that long-term consumption of tomato juices is helpful for the skin. Tomato juice contains carotenoids.
Drinking tomato juices increases the serum carotenoids concentration. In the long term which helps to recover from early and later skin problems caused by radiotherapy.
Tomatoes also help to reduce oxidative damage of skins caused by UV rays. The beta carotene component of tomato lightens the skin texture also.
Beta carotene has another benefit over skins. It improves the elasticity of your skin. Because of these facts tomatoes are widely used to cure burn marks.
Are Tomatoes Good for Your Gut
Tomatoes are well known for their probiotic properties. Several studies have suggested excellent gut benefits from probiotics.
According to research tomato juice can be used to control pediatric diarrhea (1). Furthermore, the probiotics of tomato juice can improve the intestinal walls.
Also, tomatoes are rich in dietary fiber and water components. The water component of tomato improves hydration and aids in normal bowel movement.
On the other hand dietary fiber is well-known for its benefits for stool. The fiber in tomatoes makes your stool bulky and reduces the occurrence chance of constipation.
Furthermore, tomatoes are enriched with acid pH. According to studies acid pH rich foods decrease the pH of the gastric contents and reduce heartburn symptoms (2).
Thus tomatoes may be an excellent food source for gut health management.
However, according to some studies, tomatoes can increase intestinal permeability.
Tomatoes for Diabetics
Bioactive components present in tomatoes are beneficial for diabetes. Lycopene is such a component.
It promotes hypoglycemic effects by increasing insulin levels. Lycopene is also responsible for lowering blood glucose and reducing the chance of prediabetes.
It also reduces angiotensin-converting enzyme activity levels. Which indicates complications related to diabetes.
Another component named quercetin is also found in tomatoes. This component helps to reduce joint pain and inflammation during diabetes.
Weight Loss Benefits of Tomatoes
If you want a quick weight loss try tomatoes. The soluble and insoluble dietary fibers of tomatoes aids in healthy weight loss.
These components are very useful to prevent obesity also. Tomatoes contain zero carbs which is another reason for quick weight loss.
Aside from this 100g serving of tomato provides only 18 calories. Because of this tomato helps your stomach to stay full for a long time.
Which will reduce your craving for food and in turn it aids to stay in proper weight. Concluding all of these factors we can say tomatoes are good for weight loss.
Are Tomatoes Good for Your Liver
There are multiple components present in tomatoes. Among these lycopene is a very important component.
Lycopene helps to prevent liver cancer. This carotenoid component is also beneficial for controlling the fatty liver disease.
Research has shown that plasma lycopene is reduced significantly for fatty liver disease patients.
Tomatoes are rich in resveratrol components also. This component reduces liver steatosis. Because of this, we can say tomatoes good for the liver.
Tomatoes Good for Eyes
Tomatoes are good for maintaining eye health. Carotenoids are found in tomatoes. These are one kind of organic pigments found in plants.
Carotenoids are responsible for the bright red color of tomatoes. These organic pigments work as antioxidants for humans.
Carotenoids prevent vitamin A deficiency and light-induced eye damage. A high intake of this compound helps to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration.
Macular degeneration is a common eye disorder. It causes blurred or reduced vision problems. That’s why tomatoes are good for your eyes.
Kidney Benefits of Tomatoes
Tomatoes contain several components which are beneficial for proper kidney function. Caffeic acid is a bioactive component found in tomatoes.
Caffeic acid promotes anti-inflammatory and anti-glycemic activities. These activities are useful for diabetic kidney disease.
Tomatoes contain chlorogenic acid also. This acid improves diabetic kidney fibrosis by modulating the adiponectin receptor’s signal pathway.
The third kidney-friendly component of tomatoes is lycopene. It improves human renal function.
Tomato Benefits for Cancer
Tomato is rich in lycopene. Lycopene is a bioactive and anti-oxidative compound. It helps to prevent multiple types of cancers.
It helps to combat breast, prostate, lung, stomach, oral and colorectal cancers. Lycopene is also beneficial for fighting some other cancers also.
These cancers are bladder, pancreatic, esophageal, cervical, and ovarian cancer. That’s why tomatoes are good for cancers.
Are Tomatoes Good for Your Joints?
Tomatoes contain solanine, a glycoalkaloid that can increase rheumatoid arthritis risks (3). That’s why tomatoes are not good for your joints.
Joint pain is a common symptom of rheumatoid arthritis. If you are suffering from joint pain you should avoid tomatoes.
Can Tomatoes Be Bad for You?
Although tomatoes are health-promoting food, they can be bad for you. Tomatoes are rich in solanine may cause intestinal permeability (4).
Intestinal permeability is a reason behind the following diseases:
- Atopy
- Cancer
- Celiac disease
- Crohn’s disease
- Fatty liver
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Obesity
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Schizophrenia
- Spondyloarthropathies
- Type 1 diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes
That’s why tomatoes may be bad for you in some cases. If you face any of these diseases stop eating tomatoes.
Are Tomatoes Inflammatory?
Tomatoes contain solanine which causes inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.
So, tomatoes are inflammatory.
Tomatoes nutrition
Tomatoes are highly nutritious. It contains almost every important vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant.
The detailed list of tomatoes nutrition is as follow
Tomatoes macronutrient nutrition value
- Calories: 18
- Protein: 0.88 g
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrate: 3.89 g
- Fiber: 1.2 g
- Sugar: 2.63 g
Tomatoes micronutrient mineral nutrition
- Calcium: 10 mg
- Iron: 0.27 mg
- Magnesium: 11 mg
- Phosphorus: 24 mg
- Potassium: 237 mg
- Sodium: 5 mg
- Zinc: 0.17 mg
- Copper: 0.059 mg
Tomatoes micronutrient vitamin nutrition
- Vitamin C: 13.7 mg
- Thiamin: 0.037 mg
- Riboflavin: 0.019 mg
- Niacin: 0.594 mg
- Vitamin B6: 0.08 mg
- Folate: 15 µg
- Choline: 6.7 mg
- Vitamin A: 42 µg
- Vitamin E: 0.54 mg
- Vitamin K: 7.9 µg
Tasty Tomato Dishes
Dishes that contain tomatoes are delicious like keto ice cream. You can prepare these healthy and nutritious recipes at home.
Also, these dishes are under the budget keto grocery list. So, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on the preparation of these recipes.
- Roasted tomato soup
- Keto cucumber soup
- Lemon garlic chicken dressing
- Egg mayo dressing
- Roasted garlic tuna dressing
Furthermore, you can use chopped tomatoes with vegan keto snacks to make the dish tasty.
Final Thoughts
Tomato is a very important food to eat. We should eat tomatoes daily to reap the benefits. It is nutrient-dense and full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
These components provide numerous health benefits. The major benefits are cancer prevention, heart and kidney protection.
Not only that, tomatoes are very useful for your eye and liver health. A huge number of people use tomatoes as a weight-loss food.
