PROTECTION FOR THE PROSTATE
Reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease
Prevent cataracts
Keep older people active
If it weren’t for Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson, America might never have tasted the tomato.
For centuries, tomatoes, which are members of the deadly nightshade family, were thought to be toxic, capable of causing appendicitis, cancer, and “brain fever.” But Colonel Johnson, an admittedly eccentric gentleman, thought otherwise. After a trip overseas in the early 1800s, he returned to Salem, New Jersey, with tomatoes and a plan to liberate this lush, red fruit from its fearsome reputation.
Never one to miss a dramatic opportunity, Johnson announced to the townsfolk that on September 26, 1820, he would eat not just one but an entire basket of tomatoes. Public excitement was high, and some 2,000 spectators arrived to watch Johnson commit what they were certain would be suicide.
He lived, of course, and tomatoes went on to become our favorite fruit. Better yet, tomatoes contain compounds that may help prevent a number of serious conditions, from heart disease and cancer to cataracts.
Tomatoes contain a red pigment called lycopene. This compound appears to act as an antioxidant—that is, it helps neutralize cell-damaging oxygen molecules called free radicals before they cause damage. Almost no one reaps more benefits from tomatoes than Italians, who eat them in one form or another virtually every day. While cooked tomatoes with a touch of oil have the highest levels of lycopene, even raw tomatoes offer powerful protection. Researchers in Italy found that people who ate seven or more servings of fresh, uncooked tomatoes a week had a 60 percent lower chance of developing stomach, colon, or rectal cancers than folks who ate two servings or less.
In one large US study of nearly 48,000 men, Harvard researchers found that men who ate at least 10 servings a week of tomatoes, whether raw, cooked, or in sauce, were able to cut their risk of developing prostate cancer by 45 percent. Ten servings sounds like a lot, but when they’re spread out over an entire week, it’s probably not much more than you’re getting now. A single serving, after all, is only a half-cup of tomato sauce, which is about the amount of sauce on a slice of pizza.
As nutritious as tomatoes are, for some people they’re simply too hard to handle.
They’re a common cause of allergies, causing symptoms such as hives, asthma, and headaches, says Richard Podell, MD, clinical professor in the department of family medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Providence, New Jersey. For some people, the problem with tomatoes is simply their acidity; eating them may make their stomachs upset or cause mouth irritation.
It’s particularly important to avoid tomatoes if you’re allergic to aspirin—at least until you get your doctor’s okay. This is because tomatoes contain chemicals called salicylates, which are the active ingredients in aspirin. While most aspirin-sensitive people do not react to the salicylates in foods, you could be the exception, and allergic reactions can be quite serious, or even fatal, says Dr. Podell.
“Lycopene is a very strong antioxidant,” says Meir Stampfer, MD, coauthor of the study and professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. “For some reason, lycopene concentrates in the prostate. Men with high levels of lycopene in their blood are at lower risk for prostate cancer.”
Lycopene may help cut risk by inhibiting the growth and replication of cancer cells. New lab research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests lycopene may also shift the balance of male hormones that can fuel prostate cancer. It may also stop cancer before it starts by protecting genes from damage caused by free radicals. But recent studies don’t agree on how protective lycopene really is. One landmark National Cancer Institute study that tracked the health and diets of 29,361 men for 4 years found only a 17 percent reduction in prostate cancer risk for those who ate pizza once a week compared with those who ate pizza less than twice a month. Of note: Among the men with a family history of prostate cancer, risk dropped if they ate more tomato products that come with a smidge of fat, such as spaghetti sauce or foods containing tomato sauce such as lasagna or pizza.
Reality check: Lycopene, tomatoes, and sauce aren’t magic bullets. Recently, the FDA allowed food manufacturers to print only watered-down health claims on tomato products—claims so mild that experts expect they may never show up on the label of your favorite brand of spaghetti sauce. According to a 2-year-long government analysis, there’s only limited evidence that eating a half-cup to a full cup of tomatoes or sauce a week cuts prostate risk. The FDA also concluded that it’s highly unlikely or uncertain that tomatoes and sauce could prevent gastric, ovarian, or pancreatic cancer.
The bottom line? No single nutrient or food is so powerful that it can single-handedly stop big health threats. But don’t give up on salads and order another cheeseburger. A new line of research suggests there’s actually strength in numbers: Serious health benefits come when you eat a rainbow-hued diet rich in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. In an intriguing new lab study from the Netherlands, lycopene plus vitamin E—a combination you’d get from tomato sauce and whole-wheat pasta—inhibited the growth of prostate cancer cells.
Research also suggests that getting more lycopene in the diet may help older people stay active longer. In a study of 88 nuns ages 77 to 98, researchers found that those who got the most lycopene were the ones least likely to need help with daily activities such as getting dressed and walking.
Come February, the juiciest, vine-ripe tomatoes are but a wistful summer memory. Cheer up. Even when fresh tomatoes are out of season, sun-dried tomatoes are a great way to get the delicious taste all year and are a nice change of pace from the Roma, grape, and cherry tomatoes you can find just about year-round in the supermarket.
Unfortunately, sun-dried tomatoes can be expensive. To enjoy their rich taste without paying an exorbitant price at the supermarket, you may want to take advantage of the abundance of vine-ripened tomatoes available in summer, at a low price, and dry some yourself. Here’s how:
Be sure to discard any tomatoes that develop black, yellow, or white spots, which could be mold that sometimes develops during the drying process.
In the not-too-distant future, doctors may be recommending tomatoes as a way of preventing lung cancer. Tomatoes contain two powerful compounds, coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid, that may help block the effects of nitrosamines, which are cancer-causing compounds that form naturally in the body and “are the most potent carcinogen in tobacco smoke,” says Joseph Hotchkiss, PhD, professor of food chemistry and toxicology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Order your pizza with “double the sauce, please.” When epidemiologist Mahyar Etminan, PharmD, of Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, analyzed 22 major studies of tomatoes, lycopene, and prostate cancer risk, he concluded that cooked tomatoes—as sauce, soup, stewed tomatoes, or in a sauté for example—were more protective than raw. The lycopene in tomatoes is located in the cell walls. Cooking tomatoes in a little bit of oil causes the cell walls to burst, releasing more of the healing lycopene.
Until recently, scientists believed that it was the vitamin C in fruits and vegetables that helped neutralize these dangerous compounds. But a study conducted by Dr. Hotchkiss and his colleagues revealed that tomatoes blocked the formation of nitrosamines even after the vitamin C was removed from the fruit.
The protective coumaric and chlorogenic acids found in tomatoes are also found in other fruits and vegetables, like carrots, green peppers, pineapples, and strawberries. Dr. Hotchkiss speculates that these compounds may be one of the reasons that people who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of developing cancer.
Lemons and limes are not the only fruits that are high in vitamin C. Tomatoes also contain loads of this powerful vitamin, which has been shown to help relieve conditions ranging from cataracts and cancer to heart disease. One medium-size tomato provides almost 24 milligrams, or 40 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for this vitamin.
Tomatoes are also a good source of vitamin A, which has been shown to boost immunity and help prevent cancer. One medium tomato provides 766 IU of vitamin A, or 15 percent of the DV.
In addition, a tomato provides 273 milligrams of potassium, or 8 percent of the DV for this mineral. Each tomato also contains about 1 gram of iron, or 7 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for women and 10 percent of the RDA for men. While the amount of iron is relatively small, your body is able to absorb it very efficiently when it’s taken with the abundant vitamin C that’s also in the tomatoes.
Shop for color. When buying fresh tomatoes, look for a brilliant shade of red. Ripe red tomatoes can have four times more beta-carotene than green, immature ones.
Shop for convenience. You don’t have to buy fresh tomatoes—or those pale impostors that hit the supermarket come February—to get the healing benefits. Lycopene can withstand the high heats used in processing, so canned tomatoes and tomato sauce both contain their full complement of this helpful compound.
Get four-season fresh tomatoes (that taste good). Check out the cherry, grape, and Roma tomatoes that are for sale 12 months of the year in the produce section of your supermarket. They taste great, are juicy, and make great snacks. They taste like summer, even when vine-ripened local tomatoes are months away.
Have a little fat. “If you eat a tomato with a little bit of fat, like olive oil, you’ll absorb the lycopene better,” says Dr. Stampfer.
In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, and thyme. Partially cover, and cook over medium heat until the tomatoes are softened, about 30 minutes.
Makes about 4 cups
Cook’s Note: This sauce is perfect served over whole-wheat pasta, couscous, quinoa, brown rice, or baked potatoes.
Calories: 111
Total fat: 2.4 g
Saturated fat: 0.3 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 495 mg
Dietary fiber: 4.4 g