Super food: Easting on tomato-based foods could also stave off the ravages of time
It is a staple ingredient of meals from spaghetti bolognese to a simple salad.
But the tomato’s worth may extend far beyond the kitchen, with research showing the popular fruit can protect against sunburn.
Feasting on tomato-based foods could also stave off the ravages of time, keeping the skin looking youthful into old age.
With previous studies endowing the tomato with the ability to cut cholesterol, as well as warding off a range of cancers, Manchester and Newcastle University researchers recommend we eat two tomato-based meals a day for optimum health.
Possible menus include a glass of tomato juice with breakfast, followed by a salad later in the day. Or tomato soup for lunch and spaghetti bolognese for dinner.
Researcher Professor Mark Birch-Machin said the humble fruit could provide a cheap and easy way of improving health.
“I went into the study as a sceptic,” he said. “But I was quite surprised with the significance of the findings.”
To test the tomato’s ability to protect the skin, ten volunteers were asked to eat five tablespoons of tomato paste mixed with olive oil every day for three months.
Another ten people had a daily dose of olive oil – minus the tomato paste.
Tests using UV lamps showed the tomato-eaters were a third better protected against sunburn at the end of the study than at the start, the British Society for Investigative Dermatology’s annual conference heard.
Other tests suggested the tomato-based diet had boosted the production of collagen – the protein that keeps skin supple.
If that were not enough, eating tomatoes also protected the tiny sausage-shaped powerhouses which turn the food we eat into energy.
With the running down of these ‘batteries’ linked to ageing, keeping them charged could help stave off the ravages of time.
Professor Birch-Machin, a Newcastle University expert on damage to mitochondrial DNA, said: “The protective effect of eating tomatoes on our mitochondria is important, as they are the energy producers in all our body cells, including skin.
“Therefore, being kind to our mitochondria is likely to contribute to improved skin health, which in turn may have an anti-ageing effect.”
The researchers, however, stressed that people shouldn’t use their findings as an excuse to throw away their sun cream.
Professor Lesley Rhodes, a Manchester University dermatologist, said: “People should not think that tomatoes in any way can replace sun creams but they may be a good additive.
“If you can improve your protection through your diet then over several years, this may have a significant effect.”
She added: “These weren’t huge amounts of tomato we were feeding the group.
“It was the sort of quantity you could easily manage by eating a lot of tomato-based meals.”
The tomato’s health-boosting benefits are credited to lycopene – the pigment behind their distinctive red skins.
The compound, which is also found in water melons and in pink grapefruit, is a powerful anti-oxidant, capable of mopping up free-radicals – harmful molecules linked to cancer.
Previous studies have shown lycopene may be able to ward off prostate cancer, as well as the lung, bladder, cervical and pancreatic forms of the disease.
The pigment may also boost heart health by combating artery-clogging cholesterol.
Cooking or processing tomatoes makes it easier for the body to absorb the lycopene they contain.
Watering tomatoes with salt water can boost their disease-fighting abilities, Pisa University research shows.
Cherry tomatoes irrigated with sea water diluted to one-eighth of its original concentration contained higher amounts of vitamins C and E, as well as other compounds believed to fight ills from heart disease to cancer, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports.
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