For many of us, tomatoes are nothing but a sauce that comes to give the pasta a great taste or give the sweetness that we need in a sandwich. But we do not realize that this wonder fruit can give us a lot of health benefits. The fruit comes from South America but its uses are popular all over the world, especially in Europe. The tomatoes have become part of their traditional dishes for centuries. It is not until recently that the health benefits of these round red tomatoes began to be revealed. Studies after studies were conducted to understand these tomatoes more.
The first thing that attracts the scientists is the lycopene in tomatoes. It was first found that lycopene is the protein responsible for the red color in tomatoes. However, later on, it was found out that the lycopene had so much more to offer. It serves as antioxidant and can help to clean up the human bodies from being damaged by the free radicals. Free radicals can be harmful for us and therefore, needs to be contained. As the lycopene has this ability, it can also help with many other diseases such as:
1. Breast cancer
2. Prostate cancer
3. Stomach cancer
4. Muscular degeneration caused by human aging
5. Improve the skin’s ability to protect itself from the damaging ultraviolet rays
6. Reducing bad cholesterol in the body
As lycopene has the ability to contain the free radicals, and therefore slow aging, this substance has been used in many beauty pills. The study conducted in Berlin would be the first breakthrough in the using of lycopene for such pills. It was a study on dermatology from the Charite University. They discovered that there was a link between supplements with lycopene and smoother skins. Smoother skins can also mean fewer wrinkles.
Beside these amazing facts on lycopene, there are also other benefits from this seemingly tiny fruit. They have become an amazing resource of vitamin A and C as they have an abundant stock of the two. As we all know, we need vitamin C in order to improve our bodies’ ability to fight off diseases and keep them healthy. As for the vitamin A, it can help to improve our vision and help to fight off the problems in the vision. And we always need a sufficient stock of the two in order to be able to keep our body as healthy as possible.
