| |
EASY VEGETABLE
“Eat your fruits and vegetables;” it’s a prescription that’s been doled out by doctors, dieticians, and moms for decades. Now more than ever, it looks like they were right. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is linked with a lower risk of some of the deadliest diseases on the planet such as heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer, and type-2 diabetes. A veggie-rich diet can even help you stay slim and trim.
“There are many benefits to eating fruits and vegetables,” says Lynn Goldstein, MS, RD, a New York-based registered dietician and holistic health counselor. First and foremost, they are rich in vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to function. Fruits and vegetables also contain antioxidants and phytochemicals, which are chemicals in the food that helps protect your body from diseases like cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes, to name a few. Incorporating large amounts of these foods in your diet gives you a diet full of fiber which will decrease constipation and keep your bowel healthy.”
Health experts say you should be eating about 9 servings a day – which is up from past recommendations of 5 a day. However, most people have a long way to go in order to achieve this goal. Fewer than 1/3 of US adults are even meeting the recommendation of five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Why is it so hard to boost your diet with healthy fruits and vegetables? In today’s hectic world of office commutes, soccer practice carpools, and loads of laundry, it’s difficult to find time for healthy eating habits. Nowadays, people tend to rely on grab-and-go meals and convenience foods at record levels in order to nourish their families. Often these meals don’t include the fruits and vegetables necessary for a healthy diet.
One sure-fire way to boost your intake of fruits and vegetables is to include tomato products in your diet. Botanically identified as a fruit but considered a vegetable by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the tomato is the second most popular vegetable in the country, second only to the potato. Tomato products are so easy and versatile to use in some of your favorite dishes that it makes it a painless way to do fruits and vegetables. You may not even realize how many healthy tomato servings you are already racking up. Tomatoes, in fact, have been incorporated into many cuisines around the globe. Spaghetti, pizza, tomato soup, and tacos all feature tomato products in their ingredient line-up.
“Tomatoes are one the most frequently consumed vegetables. Tomatoes cross cultures, regions, age groups and socioeconomic levels. They are a base ingredient in global cuisine (eg., Mexican, Italian). Tomatoes are part of everyone’s diet,” says Britt Burton-Freeman, Ph.D, MS, Director of Health Promoting Foods at the National Center for Food Safety & Technology at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Tomatoes are picked at the peak of harvest and processed immediately to savor flavor and nutrients in products we all know and love, including canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato soup, tomato juice, and ketchup. Stock a variety of tomato products in your pantry to flavor pasta dishes, soups, casseroles, salsas, meat dishes, and sandwiches and boost your vegetable quotient and the health promoting benefits they deliver all week long.
Tomatoes, the Superfood
What exactly are the health benefits of tomatoes? Let’s break it down. Not only can tomatoes boost your all-important fruit and vegetable intake to help you live a healthier life, they are virtual plant powerhouses with their own unique profile of nutrients. Tomato products are a good source of vitamins C, A and K; potassium; and fiber – all in a low-calorie, low-fat package. A 100-gram serving (or ~ ½ cup) of canned tomatoes contains only 32 calories.
When it comes to arsenal of nutrients tomatoes deliver, scientists are particularly impressed with their inherent carotenoid content, including beta-carotene and lycopene. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that gives tomatoes their deep red color and protects against disease. Eating a single serving of tomatoes increases the lycopene level in your bloodstream. When tomatoes are cooked, their lycopene content becomes even more available to your body. Lycopene is a fat-soluble nutrient. This means that the body’s ability to absorb lycopene is increased when the tomato is cooked or eaten with a little bit of fat like olive oil.
Furthermore, scientists are learning that it isn’t just the lycopene in tomato products offering health benefit, it’s the synergy of a whole rainbow of plant nutrients and compounds all working together in the tomato to protect you from disease. Eating a regular supply of tomatoes and tomato products has been linked with a reduced rate of chronic diseases.
“It’s not just the lycopene in the tomato providing health benefits. We have a good source of data that suggests the efficacy of consuming tomatoes on health, in terms of the role of disease prevention and treatment,” says A. Venketeshwer Rao, M.Sc.,Ph.D. professor at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, who has studied the effects of lycopene in tomato products.
Tomatoes are so beneficial in fact, that they have found themselves classified as a superfood. In the New York Times best-selling book, SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life (Harper, 2006), author Steven Pratt, MD reports that some foods are dramatically better than others for your health and longevity and identifies 14 important foods as superfoods. On Pratt’s list you will find tomatoes and tomato-based products, because among many other health benefits, eating them is one of the easiest ways for some men to avoid prostate cancer. Tomato products were also recently highlighted on the Oprah show, when best-selling book author, Mehmet C. Oz, MD recommended eating 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce per week to gain the wonderful effects of lycopene.
Cancer-Fighting Tomatoes
If you’re looking to stack your odds against cancer, then eat plenty of tomatoes and tomato products. The healthy habit of eating tomato products has been linked with reduced risks of gastric, lung, and prostate, cancer. The anti-cancer properties in tomatoes seem to be related to their antioxidant levels, particularly from their lycopene, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and phenols.
According to Mehmet C. Oz, MD, co-author of best-selling book, You Staying Young (Free Press, 2007), the risk of developing certain cancers decreases when you eat ten or more tablespoons a week of tomato sauce. Oz reports that the active ingredient likely responsible for this is lycopene, a carotenoid known for its antioxidant properties, which is more available to your body in cooked tomato products.
Eating just one serving of tomatoes or tomato products every day, but not supplementation with lycopene alone, may help protect against DNA damage that is involved in developing prostate cancer, according to research. (1) Researchers from the UC Davis Health System in Sacramento, CA report that processed tomato products provide sources of lycopene, readily available to the body, that can protect you against oxidative damage and cancer-causing effects. The research on tomato products suggests that it is the synergistic effect of lycopene and other nutrients in the tomato that unleashes these positive effects. (2)
“Processed tomatoes are a rich source of bioavailable lycopene which has been shown to reduce the risks of prostate cancer. The positive health benefits include a synergy among the naturally occurring nutrients in tomatoes, including lycopene, vitamin C, tocopherols, and polyphenols. Enough research exists to recommend the intake of processed tomato products, rather than raw tomatoes, as part of a regular diet,” says Arpita Basu, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, at Oklahoma State University. Fitting tomato products into your diet regularly may protect you against a number of specific cancers.
• When it comes to prostate cancer risk in men, data from the Physicians’ Health Study suggests that eating lycopene from tomato products may reduce the occurrence and progression of this form of cancer. (I would expand this piece to include the body of evidence)..Prostate actually has good data and a lot of it.
• Studies indicate that beta-carotene, which is found in tomatoes and other food sources, is a protective factor against lung cancer.
• Scientific findings suggest that lycopene found in a high consumption of tomato products creates a protective effect against the risk of colorectal cancers. (5)
• Carotenoids found in fruits and vegetables are also linked with a lower risk of upper digestive tract cancer, according to research. (6)
• The results of a study performed by the Epidemiology Research Unit at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal indicate that a diet rich in tomatoes and tomato-based products with high lycopene content may help reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer. (7)
In the most comprehensive scientific analysis of cancer prevention and causation ever undertaken, an expert panel of scientists for the American Institute of Cancer Research reviewed over 4,000 trials, studies, and reports in order to create the organization’s Second Expert Report - Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. The report notes that there is a substantial amount of evidence on tomato products and that food containing lycopene probably does protect against cancer. In particular, foods containing lycopene are cited as providing a convincing decreased risk for prostate cancer.
It looks like a picture perfect cancer-protective diet is splashed in the vibrant red shades of processed tomato products.
“Paint your plate red every day – toss your pasta with tomato sauce, top your taco with salsa, and ladle up a hearty tomato soup. Start eating to fight cancer.”
Heart-Healthy Tomatoes
It’s time to get your red on for a heart-healthy diet. Scientific evidence is pointing out that eating a diet rich in tomato products may help protect your heart. “Our research shows that in the food, not just the lycopene itself, higher levels of tomato products are related to a moderately lower risk of cardiovascular disease. We looked at about 40,000 women and found that those who ate 7 or more tomato-based foods per week, compared with those that ate very few servings, had a moderately reduced risk of cardiovascular disease,” reports Howard Sesso, Assistance Professor of Medicine at Harvard, who has researched the role of lycopene, the powerful antioxidant found in tomato products, on cardiovascular disease risk.
Scientists have noticed that among people with high levels of lycopene in their bloodstream, there is a tendency to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease. This prompted them to investigate the role of lycopene and tomato products on heart disease. In one study, researchers examined data from the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study and found that lycopene concentrations in the blood may play a protective role in the early stages of atherosclerosis, a disease characterized by narrowing of the arteries that can disrupt blood flow to the heart or brain.(8) Researchers examining data from the EURAMIC study, which included people from 10 European countries, reported that lycopene may be at the root of the cardio-protective power of a diet rich in vegetables. (9) Israeli researchers found that a tomato-rich diet increased “good” HDL-cholesterol levels significantly by 15.2 percent. (10) Daily intake of tomato products, like tomato sauce and tomato juice, may reduce LDL cholesterol levels by 13 percent, according to a recent Finnish study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. (11)
Tomatoes contain a symphony of nutrients that may work in concert to protect lipoproteins and vascular cells from oxidation, the most widely accepted theory for the genesis of atherosclerosis, according to researchers form the Department of Food Science at North Carolina State University. Other heart-protective activities in tomatoes may include the reduction of “bad” LDL cholesterol, homocysteine, platelet aggregation, and blood pressure. (12)
Take on Obesity with Tomatoes
If you want to fit into your favorite pair of jeans, then you might want to power up on plenty of fruits and vegetables, including tomato products. America has a well-publicized battle with the bulge - an estimated 2/3 of adults are overweight. Along with increased rates of obesity comes an onslaught of other health condition including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, arthritis, and some forms of cancer.
If you’re interested in slimming down your lifestyle, a diet high in fruits and vegetables can help you do the trick. Research shows that if you choose foods that are natural low-calorie bargains, such as fruits and vegetables, it can help you lose weight. This strategy not only offers consistent weight loss, but improved weight maintenance. Adults who eat higher amounts of fruits and vegetables tend to have a lower body weight.
“Diets high in fruits and vegetables are low in fat and calories, helping us maintain a healthy weight and decrease the risk of obesity,” says Lynn Goldstein, M.S, RD, a New York-based registered dietitian and holistic health counselor.
According to a study from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, reducing dietary calorie density, particularly by combining increased fruits and vegetable intakes with decreased fat intake, is an effective strategy for maintaining weight while controlling hunger. (13)
When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, it’s a matter of balance. If you eat more calories than your body needs, you will gain weight. By increasing your physical activity and decreasing your caloric intake, you can lose weight. Fruits and vegetables can speed you along the path to weight loss in many ways. Since most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in calories and fat, yet rich in nutrients and fiber, they give you a bigger bang for your buck. They can make you feel full and less deprived for a small investment of calories. You can fill out a petite serving of entrée on your plate with a double serving of most vegetables for about 25 calories.
Tomato products are a perfect match for a weight control routine, because they are naturally low in calories and a good source of fiber. A skinny serving of canned tomatoes (100 grams) gets you 2 grams of fiber for only 32 calories and 0 grams of fat.
“Tomatoes are nutrient rich and low in calories. They can be used in a variety of dishes to expand the volume and offer greater satiety. They are a great carrier for herbs and spices offering not only enhanced flavor, but may also enhance the satiety component,” says Britt Burton-Freeman, Ph.D., M.S., Director of Health Promoting Foods at the National Center for Food Safety & Technology at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Tomato products are perfectly suited for maximizing a low-calorie diet by adding bold flavor and texture, without a calorie bonanza. Instead of relying on high-fat ingredients to jazz up your palate, dip into tomato products for flavor, seasoning, moisture, and more. You can make a small serving of pasta go a long way with marinara sauce. Stew up a pot of soup with a tomato base as a skinny alternative to cream-bases. Pour a can of tomatoes over chicken for a moist, flavorful cacciatore. Serve a spicy salsa instead of a creamy dip with your veggie platter. And drink a glass of tomato juice instead of OJ in the morning to shave off 70 calories from your breakfast. Dive into tomatoes to help find the skinny in you.
References
1. Ellinger S., et al. Tomatoes, tomato products and lycopene in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer: do we have the evidence from intervention studies? Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Nov;9(6):722-7.
2. Basu, A., et al. Tomatoes versus lycopene in oxidative stress and carcinogenesis: conclusions from clinical trials. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar;61(3):295-303. Epub 2006 Aug 16.
3. Gann PH., et al. Lower prostate cancer risk in men with elevated plasma lycopene levels: results of a prospective analysis. Cancer Res. 1999 Mar 15;59(6):1225-30.
4. Comstock G.W., et al. The risk of developing lung cancer associated with antioxidants in the blood: ascorbic acid, carotenoids, alpha-tocopherol, selenium, and total peroxyl radical absorbing capacity. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1997 Nov;6(11):907-16.
5. Erhardt J.G., et al. Lycopene, beta-carotene, and colorectal adenomas. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Dec;78(6):1219-24.
6. Nomura A.M., et al. Serum micronutrients and upper aerodigestive tract cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1997 Jun;6(6):407-12.
7. Nkondjock A., et al. Dietary intake of lycopene is associated with reduced pancreatic cancer risk. J Nutr. 2005 Mar;135(3):592-7.
8. Rissanen T.H., et al. Serum lycopene concentrations and carotid atherosclerosis: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jan;77(1):133-9.
9.Kohlmeier L., et al. Lycopene and myocardial infarction risk in the EURAMIC Study.Am J Epidemiol. 1997 Oct 15;146(8):618-26.
10. Blum A., et al. Effects of tomatoes on the lipid profile. Clin Invest Med. 2006 Oct;29(5):298-300.
11. Silaste, G., et al. Tomato juice decreases LDL cholesterol levels and increases LDL resistance to oxidation. British Journal of Nutrition December 2007, Volume 98, Issue 6, Pages 1251-1258,
12. Willcox J.K, et al. Tomatoes and cardiovascular health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2003;43(1):1-18.
13. Ello-Martin J.A.,. et al. Dietary energy density in the treatment of obesity: a year-long trial comparing 2 weight-loss diets. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1465-77.
Interviews
Britt Burton-Freeman, Ph.D., M.S., Director, Health Promoting Foods, National Center for Food Safety & Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Moffet Campus
Howard Sesso, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Lynn Goldstein, M.S, RD, 51 West 86th Street, Suite 104D, New York, NY, 10024, 917-940-5376, lhgolds@hotmail.com.
A. Venketeshwer Rao, M.Sc.Ph.D, professor at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, v.rao@utoronto.ca
Arpita Basu, Ph.D Assistant Professor. Department of Nutritional Sciences, 301 Human Environmental Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-6141, Phone: 405-744-4437, Fax: 405-744-1357 |
