Tomatoes provide the body with lycopene, a valuable source of nutrition. Lycopene has shown that it prevents damage to the cells causing cancers of many types. These include colon cancer, prostate cancer prevention, and also breast cancers. It is the folate mineral inside of a tomato that helps to ward off these cancers.
Vitamins C and A are also present in the tomato. Vitamin C is one vitamin that protects us from free radicals, which are those compounds that destroy cells that are healthy. Free radicals tear away at the immune system, and therefore promote viruses and other illnesses we don't want. Vitamin A on the other hand, plays a role in helping to improve your eyesight, as well as helping to strengthen your immunity from colds and flus. One cup of a natural tomato provides you with over 50 percent of vitamin C and right around 20 percent of your vitamin A.
Nutrition
Tomatoes are also strong in niacin, which is a vitamin that is water soluble. Niacin lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, so a healthy low fat diet that is rich in tomato sources should significantly lower your blood lipid levels.
Potassium is a mineral that your body needs in order to live. This mineral also has a lot to do with helping your nerves function properly right along with giving the proper strength to your body's muscles. Your risk of hypertension is also lessened through eating potassium rich foods. Tomatoes are a food that can provide you with a great potassium source along with bananas. They provide at least 10 percent of your daily requirement.
Tomatoes carry chromium too. Chromium is a mineral which helps to lower your blood sugar levels as well as certain types of migraine headaches.
Tomato juice helps with blood clotting. This is due to the fact that tomato juice has some unique properties which help to thin the blood and keep the platelets from sticking together.
Lastly, tomatoes contain vitamin K. Vitamin K is helpful to bone health since they provide about 19 percent of what your body needs daily. What vitamin K does is stimulate the action of osteocalcin. Osteocalcin is what makes up most of the bone's protein that is not collagen related. The osteocalcin levels that you have in your body will then attach itself to your bones, and hence, causes calcium to work in your favor.
What Nutrition Does a Tomato Have?
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