Tomatoes are one of the most typical foods of the Mediterranean diet.

Raw or cooked, used in a thousand recipes, they are almost never lacking on our tables.

Summer is the best time to enjoy them raw, while during the colder months we can take advantage of the benefits of canned tomatoes. Cooking, in fact, enhances some of the beneficial properties of tomatoes.

Tomatoes, thanks to their qualities, bring numerous benefits to the body . Paraphrasing an old proverb we could say that "a tomato a day keeps the doctor away".

The antioxidant properties of tomatoes

The tomato contains lycopene, a powerful antioxidant which is attributed to the body's protective properties against diseases associated with cellular aging. Lycopene belongs to the group of carotenoids and is available mainly in the outermost part of the tomato .

Unlike other antioxidant molecules, which are negatively affected by the heat treatment of foods, cooking improves the bioavailability of lycopene and, consequently, cooked tomato is considered to be a major source of lycopene compared to the raw one.

In addition to lycopene, the tomato contains other antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E and flavonoids .

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Tomato for cardiovascular health

Thanks to its composition, the tomato is considered an excellent food for cardiovascular health . In particular, the following qualities are attributed to tomatoes:

> Reduction of LDL oxidation. LDL is the so-called "bad" cholesterol and its oxidation is a particularly dangerous process as it leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.

> Control of blood pressure . It is believed that frequent consumption of tomatoes favors a slight reduction in systolic and systolic pressure.

Tomato helps you lose weight

Tomato is an excellent food in slimming diets, especially for three reasons:

> The tomato is very rich in water and therefore is able to stimulate diuresis, especially if consumed raw and fresh, naturally without adding salt which, on the contrary, favors water retention. It also has detoxifying properties, especially due to the presence of sulfur.

> It has very few calories. 100 grams of tomatoes contain less than 20 calories .

> Tomatoes stimulate the production of carnitine, an amino acid that is used by the body to transform fats into energy.

The properties of tomatoes for the gastrointestinal system

Tomatoes reduce the pH of the stomach by stimulating digestion, especially of starches.

They are rich in fibers, in particular cellulose and hemicellulose, present mainly in the skin; therefore they stimulate intestinal motility.

Tomatoes friends of sight

Tomatoes contain lutein and beta-carotene, two very useful substances for eye health.

The contraindications of tomatoes

However, like all foods, tomatoes also have some drawbacks .

They are rich in solanine, a substance that, if taken in large quantities, is harmful to the body. It must be known, however, that the solanine content is inversely proportional to the degree of maturation. Naturally matured tomatoes contain less than off-season tomatoes.

Furthermore, tomatoes are rich in histamine, a substance that can cause allergic or pseudo-allergic reactions, even serious ones, in predisposed subjects.

Tomatoes can cause heartburn and are contraindicated in case of gastric irritation, gastroesophageal reflux and other disorders of the gastrointestinal system in which it is not recommended to take acid foods.