One of the must-have foods in the kitchen is the tomato.. Not only for its great taste and versatility to be combined with other ingredients, but also for its high nutritional value.
Tomatoes have multiple properties and health benefits. For this reason it should never be missing on the table. In addition, it is a vegetable that does not need cooking to be consumed, although in any form of preparation it always tastes delicious.
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Know all the benefits of tomatoes for your health.
The red of the tomato gives color and flavor to stews. Perhaps that is why it is one of the favorite elements of almost any cuisine throughout the world. Sometimes it plays a leading role in dishes, other times its appearance is complementary.
In any of the cases, it is an essential food.. Fortunately, there is no need to worry about this, because tomatoes have properties and health benefits that make them a vegetable that is recommended to be consumed quite often.
In today’s article we will know what are these properties of tomato and what benefits it brings to our health.
1. Protects eyesight
Tomatoes have a high vitamin A content.. This vitamin improves and protects vision, especially from diseases related to cell aging. That is, for night blindness or degenerative diseases, tomato is a great ally.
To obtain this benefit, it can be consumed in any of its forms. However, eating it raw always guarantees the best use of all its vitamins. A good idea is also to consume it as juice.
- Another food with a lot of vitamin A: “Carrot: 10 healthy properties and benefits for your body”.
2. Improves circulation
Tomato has the property of helping to improve circulation.. This vegetable has iron and vitamin K. Both have the power to help good health related to blood flow in the body.
If the body maintains an adequate blood flow, the chances of developing cardiovascular diseases are minimized. For this reason, a regular consumption of tomatoes helps to prevent this type of diseases.
3. Protects the skin
This vegetable has a high content of antioxidants.. One of the lesser known properties of tomatoes is that they contain antioxidants. However, it has always been known that consuming this vegetable helps maintain healthy skin.
It was said that because of the color, which was related to the pinkness of healthy skin, was the reason why tomatoes provided this benefit to our skin. However, it is actually because it contains antioxidants, whose function is to prevent cell aging.
4. Strengthens the immune system
Because tomatoes are rich in vitamins and minerals, they help strengthen the immune system.. This vegetable contains vitamin A, C, K, iron and potassium. This makes it an excellent food to fight diseases.
Frequent consumption of tomatoes helps the immune system to be strengthened. In this way, when diseases occur, the body is prepared to fight them and thus reduce their adverse effects on the body.
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5. It works as a diuretic
Tomatoes contain potassium and are very low in sodium.. These two particularities make it a diuretic food. In other words, tomatoes help to prevent fluid retention. There are several reasons why the body accumulates liquids, none of them is good for health.
For this reason, consuming tomatoes can help the body to get rid of the accumulated liquid that causes swelling. For this it is better to consume it raw, although its properties are not lost during the cooking process.
6. Helps healing
One of the properties and health benefits is that it helps in a fast healing process.. This is due to its antioxidant properties, as it helps the regeneration and non-aging of cells during the healing process, generating new cells to heal.
In addition, as we have already mentioned, it helps with blood flow, which is also involved in the healing process that the body carries out every day. For this reason it is often said that when someone has a deep wound you should include plenty of tomatoes in your diet.
7. Ally for heart patients
When someone suffers from heart problems, it is recommended to consume tomatoes.. In these cases, as in some others, it is preferable to consume the tomato cooked rather than raw, as the cooking process intensifies its properties related to heart health.
It has been shown that the daily consumption of two tomatoes can help improve the flexibility of blood vessels. This is because tomatoes contain lycopenes, which increase their health properties when tomatoes are cooked.
8. Prevention of degenerative diseases
The tomato has a high content of lycopene.. It is one of the vegetables with the highest amount of this antioxidant. It is even the one that gives color to this vegetable. Among all antioxidants, lycopene seems to be one of the most efficient.
These antioxidants are excellent in the prevention of diseases related to cellular aging such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as blindness and other age-related ailments. But it is important to remember that in order to maximize the effect of lycopenes, tomatoes should be consumed cooked.
- You are interested in reading: “Discover the 10 superfoods you should include in your diet”.
9. Prevents osteoporosis
Regular consumption of tomatoes helps prevent osteoporosis.. Above all, this disease is detected in women who have passed menopause, which is the stage where the greatest decalcification of the bones occurs, which can lead to osteoporosis.
For this reason, it is recommended to consume tomatoes on a daily basis. Whether raw or cooked, tomatoes have multiple properties and health benefits, especially for women.
10. Intestinal transit regulator
Tomatoes are an important source of dietary fiber.. Like almost all vegetables, tomatoes contain fiber. Therefore, one of its properties is to benefit the intestinal transit and thus avoid gastrointestinal diseases.
However, care must be taken in one important point. Tomatoes must be ripe, otherwise, a vegetable that is not ripe enough and is consumed could cause gastrointestinal discomfort.