HEALTH FOOD TIPS

What is the impact of tomato on health? Tomato appears to be a universally accepted prime fruit-vegetable. Tomato is a source of various essential vitamins like vitamin A, Vitamin B (niacin), vitamin C, and vitamin K. Tomato also contains a fair amount of fiber, lycopene and folic acid; and is able to impact on human health significantly.

Tomato is used as a popular vegetable around the globe. Nutrient contents of tomato are worth mentioning. The tomato is full of Anti-oxidant properties and having high proportion of anti-oxidants Vitamins.  The characteristic features of nutrient contents of tomato are presented below:

Vitamin A: Tomato when used as vegetables could be a source of carotinoid vitamin A. This is useful to stabilize skin and eye health and to provide disease prevention capacity.

Anti-oxidant properties: Tomato contains anti-oxidant properties having a high proportion of vitamin A, Vitamin C and vitamin E as compared to other vegetables.

Vitamin K: Tomato is a good source of potassium. One cup of tomato juice contains about 534 mgs of potassium (The Daily Prothom Alo Desk). Potassium has impact on healthy and strong bones. Potassium can also helps against osteoporosis if taken at the early stage.

Vitamin C: Tomato is rich in vitamin C.  Vitamin C is considered as a strong weapon to create immunity and to fight against cold and associated illness.

Cholesterol:The niacin content in tomatoes is reported to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood. (to be considered along with appropriate diet plan).

Lycopene: The lycopene content of tomatoes helps to prevent prostate and pancreas cancers. The lycopene is able to reduce the occurrence of cancer of pancreas by about 32 %( The Daily Prothom Alo Desk). The lycopene content of tomatoes is also found to be helpful against certain age-related vision as well as cataracts problems.

Vitamin contents of tomatoes: One cup of tomatoes or 189 gms of tomatoes contains 38% vitamin C, 30% vitamin A, 18% vitamin K, 13% potassium and 10% manganese. Besides, there are vitamin E, iron and fibre in it (The Daily Prothom Alo Desk).

Caution before using tomato: Tomatoes contain a fair amount of potassium. So those who have kidney diseases should take due care and should not take too many tomatoes and  should consult relevant physicians regarding this issue.  It is also to be remembered that tomatoes also contain a   fair amount of sugar.

After all tomato has always been considered as an important and popular food item around the world due to the vitamin contents of tomato vis-a-vis the antioxidant properties to keep both mind and body refreshed.