Avoid prostate cancer by eating tomatoes

Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions.

Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions.

Tomatoes contain high lycopene. Lycopene is a pigment that gives vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon, their red color. Like beta-carotene, lycopene belongs to the class of carotenoids. It also appears to have strong antioxidant capabilities.
Studies suggest that a diet rich in lycopene is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Lycopene is one of the carotenes, and a member of the carotenoid family. Most people have much higher levels of lycopene than beta-carotene in their liver, adrenal glands, lungs, prostate, colon, and skin; which isn’t such a bad thing, considering it has twice the antioxidant power of beta-carotene.

Lycopene is known to have the ability as an antioxidant and can protect the body against various diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. Are crushed or cooked tomatoes are a better source of lycopene than raw tomatoes.

For example, the amount of lycopene in tomato juice can reach five times more than fresh tomatoes. The researchers suspect, cooked tomatoes or lycopene is destroyed may issue more so easily absorbed by the body.

In a study of over 40,000 health professionals, Harvard investigators found that men who ate more than 10 servings tomato-based foods daily (like cooked tomatoes and tomato sauce,) had a 35 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer than those who ate the least amount of these foods. The benefits of lycopene was more pronounced with advanced stages of prostate cancer.

In another study of prostate cancer, researchers looked at blood levels of lycopene and found that the risk of developing prostate cancer, especially aggressive cancer, decreased with increasing blood lycopene levels. Men taking 50mg of lycopene daily had significantly higher level of lycopene. In this study, researchers found that high level of lycopene in the blood was associated with low PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels. High PSA levels in blood are often a sign of prostate cancer.

Enjoy the benefits of lycopene by eating more tomatoes and processed tomato products. Indeed, research showed that lycopene is better absorbed by the body when tomatoes are processed. It is due to the fact that lycopene is bound to tomato's cell structure; processing releases lycopene from the cell structure.