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Page 101
| Tomatoes |
| Help prevent cataracts and other age-related ailments |
| May help prevent cancer |
| May reduce risk of heart disease and stroke Central to the famously healthy Mediterranean diet, tomatoes are also central to the less famous, less healthy American diet. Americans eat more tomatoes than any other fruit or vegetableand that's one part of our diet that definitely shouldn't change. |
| WHAT MATTERS, WHAT DOESN'T |
| What Matters |
| Cooking vegetables briefly so that they retain most of their nutrients. Cooking in minimal amounts of water. Saving cooking water to use for soups or to sauté other vegetables. |
| What Doesn't |
| Eating all or most vegetables raw, unless you want to: light cooking can help release nutrients and increases digestibility. |
| Life-Enhancing Lycopene |
| Tomatoes are one of the few fruits and vegetables (by the way, they are fruits, not vegetables) that contain the carotenoid called lycopene. Recent research show that lycopene, the pigment that makes tomatoes red, is an antioxidant that helps prevent free radicals from causing cell damage. Researchers now believe that lycopene, which is found both in raw and processed tomatoes, may have twice the antioxidant power of beta-carotene. |
| Studies indicate that people with the highest levels of lycopene are at much lower risk for developing various forms of cancer including cancer of the bladder, cervix, and pancreas. It has also been found to inhibit colon, rectal, stomach, prostate, breast, lung, and endometrial cancer. One study, conducted at Harvard University, found that men who ate at least ten one-half cup servings of tomatoes per weekraw, cooked, or as a saucecut their risk of developing prostate cancer by 45 percent. |
| On top of that, research also indicates that lycopene may help older people stay active longer. |
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