Tomato Power
ChefMD® recently wrote the article “Tomatoes KO Cardiovascular Disease.” First off, I love the title because it shows how food is a truly powerful disease fighter. The Chef said tomatoes help reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering the amount of LDL (bad) cholesterol in your body. He also pointed out that cardiovascular disease is responsible for 50% of deaths in Europe and a third of deaths in the United States. Yikes!
A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition compared cholesterol levels in volunteers over a three week period. Those who eat a diet rich in tomatoes (equivalent to one ounce of ketchup or more than 13 ounces of tomato juice a day), compared to those who eat no tomatoes, had a 5.9% drop in their overall cholesterol and a 12.9% drop in LDL cholesterol.
Most of us don’t like to eat tomatoes plain, so you can try out ChefMD®’s recipe for Sun Dried Tomato and Mushroom Muffuletta Sandwiches.
My two favorite ways to eat tomatoes are in TCOA Salad or on toasted whole grain bread with hummus, salt, and pepper. Yum!
Leave a Comment for Laurel
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Laurel, thanks for picking this up–I like that tomato, cucumber, onion and avocado salad too, especially as the flavors meld for a day: it can make up for tomatoes that are not exactly at their peak of ripeness, here in April, unless they are from Argentina or Honduras.
And of course any time tomatoes are served with oil or fats (aka olive oil or avocado), their antioxidant lycopene level becomes more bioavailable. Tomatoes don’t acquire more of it: it just becomes easier to absorb, and fight free radicals.
Best
JL
April 8th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Thanks ChefMD! I always look forward to reading the articles on your site.