Tomato: all the properties and benefits for your health

One of the essential foods in the kitchen is tomato. Not only for its great taste and its versatility to be combined with other ingredients, but for its high nutritional value.

The tomato has multiple properties and health benefits. For this reason it should never be missing from the table. In addition, it is a vegetable that does not need cooking to be consumed, although in any form of preparation it always has a delicious flavor.

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Know all the benefits of tomato for your health

The red of the tomato gives color and flavor to the stews. Perhaps that is why it is one of the favorite elements of almost any gastronomy throughout the planet. Sometimes it has a leading role in the dishes, other times its appearance is complementary.

In either case, it is an essential food. Fortunately, you do not have to worry about this, because the tomato has properties and health benefits that make it a vegetable that is recommended to consume quite frequently.

In today's article we are going to know what these properties of tomato are and what benefits it brings to our health.

1. Protect eyesight

Tomato is high in vitamin A. This vitamin improves and protects vision, especially from diseases related to cell aging. That is, for night blindness or degenerative diseases, the 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 properties and healthy 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 ability to help good health related to the blood flow of the body.

If the body maintains adequate blood flow, the chances of developing cardiovascular diseases are minimized. For this reason, a regular consumption of tomato helps prevent this type of disease.

3. Protect the skin

This vegetable is high in antioxidants. One of the lesser known properties of tomato is that it contains antioxidants. However, it has always been known that consuming this vegetable helps maintain healthy skin.

It was said that due to the color, which was related to the pinkness of healthy skin, it was the reason why the tomato provided this benefit for our skin. However, it is actually because it contains antioxidants, whose function is to prevent the aging of cells.

4. Strengthens the immune system

Thanks to the fact that the tomato is rich in vitamins and minerals, it helps to strengthen the immune system. This vegetable contains vitamin A, C, K, iron and potassium. This makes it an excellent food to fight diseases.

Frequent tomato consumption helps the immune system to be strengthened. In this way, when diseases occur, the body is prepared to fight them and thereby reduce their adverse effects on the body.

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5. Works as a diuretic

Tomato contains potassium and is very low in sodium. These two peculiarities make it a diuretic food. That is, the tomato favors the non-retention of liquids. There are several causes why the body accumulates fluids, none of them are good for health.

For this reason, consuming tomato can help the body dispose of that accumulated fluid that causes bloating. 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 rapid healing. This is due to its antioxidant powers, because by helping the regeneration and not aging of the cells, during healing they act to generate 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, a lot of tomato should be included in the diet.

7. Ally for heart patients

When some people suffer from heart problems it is recommended to consume tomato. In these cases, as in some others, it is preferable to consume the cooked tomato 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 the blood vessels. This is because the tomato contains lycopenes, which increase its healthy properties when the tomato is cooked.

8. Prevention in degenerative diseases

Tomatoes are high in lycopenes. It is one of the vegetables with the highest amount of this antioxidant. It is even the one that gives the color to this vegetable. Of all the antioxidants, lycopene appears to be one of the most efficient.

These antioxidants are excellent in the prevention of diseases related to the cellular aging such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as blindness and other conditions age-related. But it must be remembered that to potentiate the effect of lycopenes, the tomato must be eaten cooked.

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9. Avoid osteoporosis

Regular consumption of tomato helps prevent osteoporosis. Above all, this disease is detected in women who have passed the 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 tomato on a daily basis. Whether raw or cooked, the tomato has multiple properties and health benefits, especially in the case of women.

10. Regulator of intestinal transit

Tomato is an important source of dietary fiber. Like almost all vegetables, the tomato contains fiber. Therefore, one of its properties is to benefit intestinal transit and thereby prevent 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 eaten could cause gastrointestinal discomfort.

Bibliographic references

• Burton-Freeman B, Sesso HD (2014). Whole food versus supplement: comparing the clinical evidence of tomato intake and lycopene supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors.
• Valadéz, L. (1990). Vegetable production. Editorial Limusa. Mexico.