by Tomato Wellness | Aug 10, 2021 | News
With all the oxidative stressors present in the environment, it can be easy to worry about our health. Did you know that tomatoes contain properties which protect us against DNA damage and aging? Read more to find out how!
Your body is constantly exposed to oxidative stress. Anything from smoking, drinking alcohol, excessively exercising, or spending time in the sun can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) which lead to oxidative stress in our bodies [1]. Throughout a normal day, your body can be exposed to many oxidative stressors, which can cause damage to your DNA and speed up the aging process. Things as common as spending time in UV rays or exercising excessively can harm your body on a cellular level. However, there is no need to panic, as eating a healthy diet can protect against the damage caused by these stressors. Foods such as fruits and vegetables contain compounds called antioxidants that can repair the damage caused by oxidative stressors. One of the foods that is the best at doing this job are tomatoes!
So, how can tomatoes protect us against DNA damage and aging? In this study, 10 healthy people drank tomato juice every day for 3 weeks in order to test its effects on reducing oxidative stress. The study found that regular consumption of tomato juice lowered the levels of two markers of oxidative stress in the body [1]. The reason for this is because of the lycopene and beta-carotene in the tomato juice.
The results of this study look promising, but does this mean that you must drink tomato juice every day in order to protect yourself? The good news is that you can take advantage of the health benefits of tomatoes no matter what form they are in! So, enjoy your daily serving of tomatoes in the form of juice, sauce, salsa, or whatever your heart desires to protect against DNA damage and aging!
1.Nakamura, A., Itaki, C., Saito, A., Yonezawa, T., Aizawa, K., Hirai, A., Suganuma, H., Miura, T., Mariya, Y., & Haghdoost, S. (2017). Possible benefits of tomato juice consumption: A pilot study on irradiated human lymphocytes from healthy donors. Nutrition Journal, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-017-0248-3
by Tomato Wellness | Aug 6, 2021 | Recipes
Did you know that the key to reducing inflammation could be in your sofrito? Sofrito, a tomato-based dish, contains all the necessary carotenoids to lower inflammation levels in the body. Learn more about how sofrito can reduce inflammation.
Have you ever wondered why so many cultures utilize tomatoes as the base of their dishes? Of course, tomatoes are tasty, but they are enormously nutritious and can also protect against disease. Countries such as Italy, Greece, and Spain, use tomatoes as an integral part of their cuisine, and other cultures throughout the world have also adopted this culinary flavor. One example of this is the popular dish among Hispanic cultures called sofrito. Made from tomatoes, olive oil, onion and garlic, sofrito is a sauce which can be used to flavor dishes, or even be eaten as a dip. (Here’s a Fun Sofrito Recipe)
However, sofrito has much more to offer than just its delicious flavor. Tomatoes are packed with nutrients called carotenoids which act as anti-inflammatories and antioxidants. As such, a tomato based sofrito contains the carotenoids lycopene and beta-carotene, which have been shown to reduce inflammation levels in the body. In this study, healthy men were given sofrito to eat, and then had their inflammatory biomarkers measured [1]. Even after just one serving of sofrito, the inflammatory biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP) and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α) were greatly improved [1]. In other studies, improvements in inflammation have been seen with the consumption of other tomato products, which is mainly caused by the lycopene content of the tomatoes. However, sofrito also contains extra virgin olive oil and onions, which provide additional beta-carotene. Beta-carotene offers an additional reduction in inflammation levels, as seen by the results of this study [1].
While tomatoes on their own are a nutritional powerhouse with the ability to improve inflammation levels, their benefits are further enhanced when combined with additional ingredients. This is great news as many tomato dishes often contain ingredients such as onions and olive oil. So, the next time you whip up a batch of sofrito, know that you are doing wonders for both your taste buds and inflammation levels.
More reading on an Anti-Inflammatory Diet 101
1. Hurtado-Barroso, S., Martínez-Huélamo, M., Rinaldi de Alvarenga, J. F., Quifer-Rada, P., Vallverdú-Queralt, A., Pérez-Fernández, S., & Lamuela-Raventós, R. M. (2019). Acute effect of a single dose of tomato sofrito on plasmatic inflammatory biomarkers in healthy men.Nutrients,11(4), 851. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040851
by Tomato Wellness | Aug 2, 2021 | Uncategorized
by Christy Wilson, RD
I’ve always been a strong advocate of nutrient-dense foods, whether they are fresh, frozen, dried or canned. Fresh-to-canned foods like tomatoes, are a convenient, budget-friendly, flexible and delicious way to expand the variety of foods we eat in our diet. Going on the Tomato Harvest tour a few years ago really opened up my eyes as to just how quickly (about 4 hours) and efficiently tomatoes go from the farm into the can and that is what locks in that fresh taste and nutrition. You get tomatoes that are picked at their most fresh state and they are ready to use all year long! Canned tomatoes have always been a pantry staple of mine and I always recommend them as a healthy addition to any and all meals.
And our favorite, the BLOODY MAEVE!
by Tomato Wellness | Jul 29, 2021 | Food and Nutrition
An increasing body of evidence links consumption of tomato products with reduced risk of prostate cancer. Here’s a look at what the latest science says.
The idea that something as simple as eating tomato products could potentially fend off prostate cancer is exciting. After all, the American Cancer Society estimates nearly 250,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. each year, resulting in more than 34,000 deaths. In fact, one man in eight will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. A body of evidence supporting the benefits of tomatoes for reducing the risk of prostate cancer has mounted over the past several years. And the latest research includes a number of studies that continue to demonstrate the promise of tomato consumption on prostate cancer protection.
What’s so special about tomatoes? They contain a variety of nutrients that may be responsible for cancer-fighting action, including vitamins A and C, fiber, and potassium, as well as a group of powerful plant compounds known as carotenoids, which give tomatoes their red, yellow, and orange colors. The most abundant carotenoid found in tomatoes is lycopene, followed by phytoene, phytofluene, zeta-carotene, gamma-carotene, beta-carotene, neurosporene, and lutein.
Numerous studies have linked lycopene consumption with cancer protection—in particular for prostate cancer. While lycopene is present in other fruits such as watermelon and pink grapefruit, tomatoes, which are the second most consumed vegetable (second to potatoes) in the U.S., account for more than 85% of the lycopene in the American diet. Interestingly, cooked tomato products—as in processed tomatoes, including tomato sauce and canned tomatoes—may hold particular significance. The lycopene from cooked and processed tomatoes is more bioavailable than that of fresh tomatoes. Heating or processing breaks down the tomato cell matrix and promotes isomerization of lycopene from all-trans isomers to the more bioavailable form of cis-isomers. Research shows that single daily servings of processed tomato products produce significant increases of lycopene concentrations in blood and buccal mucosal cells in healthy adults.
Tomatoes’ cancer protection isn’t merely due to lycopene. Compared to lycopene alone, more effective benefits have been linked with consumption of the whole tomato, which contains a full range of carotenoids and nutrients. Lycopene has strong antioxidant capacity that may provide cancer protection, but there may be other factors at play, such as altering gene expression, anti-inflammatory effects, and alterations in cancer cell cycle.
To add to the growing body of research on the mechanisms of action related to tomato products and cancer, a 2020 review of studies was published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. Researchers found that lycopene—the compound found in tomato products—has anti-cancer, anti-progressive, and apoptotic effects on prostate cancer. The clinical studies reviewed showed evidence supporting the continuous inclusion of dietary lycopene for different types of cancers, especially prostate cancer. Lycopene was found to effectively suppress progression and proliferation, arrest in-cell cycle, and induce apoptosis of prostate cancer. In addition, lycopene was shown to signal the pathways for the treatment and prevention of prostate cancer. A double-blind placebo-controlled study in the review showed that after 28 days of consuming lycopene-rich juices, patients’ serum lycopene levels were 80% higher compared to patients given a placebo, which could help reduce risk of disease. Another study in the review showed men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer who received lycopene twice a day for three weeks had decreased the risk and growth of prostate cancer cells.
In a prominent 2020 study from Loma Linda University, researchers examined how tomato consumption might impact the development of prostate cancer by looking for significant relationships between diet and prostate cancer in nearly 28,000 men as part of the landmark cohort Adventist Health Study-2 Among participants, who were cancer-free men at the outset and were followed for nearly eight years, those who consumed canned and cooked tomatoes more than four times a week were at lower risk of developing prostate cancer compared to those who did not eat cooked tomatoes and tomato products. Men who consumed them five to six times per week decreased their risk by 28% compared to those with no intake. The results from the Adventist Health Study-2 conclude that consumption of canned and cooked tomatoes may reduce risk of prostate cancer.
Including lycopene-rich foods, like tomato products, as a supplementary therapy for prostate cancer is the basis of some of the latest scientific research, which has shown the potential for limiting prostate cancer cell growth as well as inducing cell death. A 2020 study examined the role of lycopene on growth factors, which play important roles in cancer development and metastasis. Binding to insulin-like growth factor, lycopene has a protective effect, which affects the pathways of this growth factor, and stimulates cancer cell death. In the study, researchers removed cancer cells from patients with varying progression of prostate cancer and measured lycopene concentrations and levels of insulin-like growth factor. There was significant difference in the mean growth factor levels at various concentrations of lycopene, increasing it as lycopene increased. Researchers concluded that lycopene could be beneficial to prostate cancer patients as a supplementary therapy to increase cancer cell death and inhibit the progression of cancer cells.
There’s still more to learn about how tomatoes protect against prostate, but the evidence to date supports incorporating foods that contain lycopene. Consuming a few more tomatoes and tomato products in the diet each week is an easy and nutritious way to do so.
Written by Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN
References
- Fraser GE, Jacobsen BK, Knutsen SF, Mashchak A, Lloren JI. Tomato consumption and intake of lycopene as predictors of the incidence of prostate cancer: the Adventist Health Study-2. Cancer Causes Control. 2020;31(4):341-351. doi:10.1007/s10552-020-01279-z
- Key Statistics for Prostate Cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/prostate-cancer/about/key-statistics.html. Accessed July 28, 2021.
- Mahdi, Mirahmadi, Shayan, Azimi-Hashemi, Ehsan, Saburi, Hossein, Kamali, Mandana, Pishbin, Farzin, Hadizadeh. Potential Inhibitory Effect of Lycopene on Prostate Cancer. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2020;129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110459
- Park, H., Kim, YJ. & Shin, Y. Estimation of daily intake of lycopene, antioxidant contents and activities from tomatoes, watermelons, and their processed products in Korea. Appl Biol Chem 63, 50 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13765-020-00534-w
- Potatoes and Tomatoes are the Most Commonly Consumed Vegetables. USDA Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=58340. Updated December 16, 2020. Accessed July 28, 2021.
- Tjahjodjati, Sugandi S, Umbas R, Satari M. The Protective Effect of Lycopene on Prostate Growth Inhibitory Efficacy by Decreasing Insulin Growth Factor-1 in Indonesian Human Prostate Cancer Cells. Res Rep Urol. 2020;12:137-143. Published 2020 Apr 17. doi:10.2147/RRU.S232745
by Tomato Wellness | Jul 22, 2021 | Media Recipe, Recipes
Looking for a healthy, protein-packed recipe for this summer? This Picadillo-Style Beef Stir-Fry is one dish that you don’t want to miss out on! This recipe calls for sirloin steak, potatoes, green bell peppers, tomato sauce, and seasonings galore. It can be served with a warm flour tortilla, hot cooked rice, or refreshing salad with greens. For additional flavor and crunch, you can also throw on some toasted sliced almonds, chopped fresh cilantro, and sour cream. This dish only requires 45 minutes of cooking time, and can be stored for up to two days, which means you can save time and meal prep with the remaining leftovers. Enjoy hot out of the oven or chilled down from the fridge to switch things up during the week.
Thanks to the addition of tomato products, you can avoid dried-out meat and boost the juiciness of many recipes. The addition of canned tomato sauce found in this Picadillo-Style Beef Stir-Fry adds a savory, mouth-watering flavor that is guaranteed to make your taste buds sing. These tomato products are also great for your short and long-term health! Canned tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, an antioxidant that gives tomatoes their vibrant, beautiful red color. Antioxidant-packed foods are beneficial for reducing risk of heart disease and cancer. In fact, studies have shown that canned tomatoes contain more lycopene than raw/fresh tomatoes. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and add canned tomatoes to your favorite dishes this summer!
Get the full recipe for Picadillo-Style Beef Stir-Fry by visiting our friends at the National Beef Council.
If you’re looking for other delicious recipes, check out some of our favorites:
Breakfast Egg Bake
Muhammara Walnut Shakshuka
California Avocado Veggie-Packed Meatloaf
Recent Comments