Do you know lycopene? It is one of the most sought out mineral because it has the ability to greatly reduce the possibility of cancer by 30-40%. In this modern era, cancer is still one of the most fearsome diseases available because there is still no cure to the illness. There are, though, several treatments such as the chemotherapy. The treatment does not guarantee a cure but can help to reduce. Another disadvantage of the treatment is the fact that it is painful and has so many negative side effects.
So, it is no surprise that lycopene is well sought. Lycopene can be found in tomatoes and even though lycopene is said to be the material that is associated with the deep red color of the tomatoes. This is why many people think that the green tomatoes do not have any lycopene. On the contrary, according to a preliminary study on healthy women and men, the lycopene can be found in any tomatoes that are not red but orange or tangerine color.
Another benefit of tomatoes is the antioxidant content. It is once again thanks to the lycopene as it is known to have antioxidant properties as well as bone health. A study on the field was conducted on elder women. These women of postmenopausal were not consuming tomatoes and other sources of lycopene for 4 weeks. At the end of the 4 weeks, these women were showing signs of oxidative stress in their bones. Their bone tissues were also showing unwanted changes. Forms the study, the researchers have concluded that the women of postmenopausal need lycopene otherwise they will be exposed to higher risk of osteoporosis.
Another study was trying to find out whether or not the growing method of tomatoes will make a difference. So the researchers try the conventional and organic growing tomatoes to see if there are differences between them. It turned out that there are not so much difference between the two growing types. They also found out that it is more to the variety of tomatoes that make the difference in the level of antioxidant.
As for the heart health, it has been proven that tomatoes have the ability to increase the level of heart health. They can lower the total cholesterol, triglycerides and also the LDL cholesterol. In addition, tomatoes also have the ability to help preventing unwanted clumping together of the platelet cells in our blood. This is a very important factor as this means the tomato has the ability to lower the risk of heart issues.
