In salads, in sauces, roasts or soups…
The tomato is usually a sort of wild card in the kitchen that goes with almost anything and enhances the flavor of any dish.
Easy to obtain, and relatively inexpensive, it solves more than one meal.
But, in addition, the tomato provides us with a series of health benefits, whether we eat it raw or cooked.
Although we consume it as a vegetable, from the botanical point of view the tomato is a fruit.
There are about 10,000 varieties of tomatoes that differ in size, shape and color, but the predominant one is red.
A question of color
And it is precisely this color that makes it a very interesting food at a nutritional level, according to Gemma Chiva-Blanch, professor of Nutrition at the Open University of Catalonia, in an article recently published in The Conversation.
“The chromatism of vegetables is given by substances, polyphenols and carotenoids, which cover the spectrum from yellow (lemon) to purple (eggplant, for example).
“The tomato is red because it contains a large amount of these compounds, although there are different varieties with different colors that have different mixtures of polyphenols and carotenoids,” Chiva-Blanch points out.
These bioactive compounds have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect.
Cardiovascular diseases
To get an idea, an 80-gram serving of tomato contains about 5% of the potassium an adult needs per day.
Consuming foods rich in potassium is associated with a lower risk of stroke and may also be associated with a lower rate of coronary heart disease.
Tomatoes also contain a compound called lycopene which, in addition to having an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, has the potential to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to several studies.
Chiva-Blanch points out that lycopene is “one of the few compounds in food that is better absorbed if our protagonist (the tomato) is crushed“, as in the case of the cold Spanish soup known as gazpacho or another version called salmorejo, typical of southern Spain, or cocido.
And while it is true that, like other fruits and vegetables, tomatoes lose vitamins and minerals when subjected to high temperatures, several studies suggest that lycopene, on the contrary, intensifies its antioxidant potential with heat.
It is also advisable to consume the tomato cooked with olive oil, which contributes to a better assimilation of its compounds.
According to the BBC’s Good Food magazine, much of the carotenoid content is in the skin of the tomato, which is why, if possible, it is advisable not to peel it to obtain maximum benefit.
More benefits
Other benefits of the phytochemicals contained in tomatoes are that they maintain eye health and may have a protective effect against age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases.
Chiva-Blanch also points out that people with diabetes, who are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, who eat more tomatoes “have a lower sclerotic load and therefore a lower cardiovascular risk”.
As a guide, 80 grams of tomato represents one of the five servings of fruits and vegetables per day recommended by the World Health Organization as part of a healthy diet.
80 grams of tomato is roughly equivalent to one traditional tomato or 7 seven cherry tomatoes.