Tomato – Juice Health Benefits & Recipes

06 Apr

Best Tomatoes For Tomato Juice And How To Choose Them

Tomato juice is a delicious source of many vitamins and nutrients, but choosing the best tomatoes for juicing can be difficult. With a quality juicer and fine tomatoes, you can easily create tasty and healthy juice at home. The following guide will help you choose the best tomatoes for juicing.

Porter Tomatoes

These plum-shaped tomatoes are great for juicing because they yield an incredible amount of juice. With an intensely sweet flavor, few seeds and thin skin, Porter tomatoes are ideal for using with your home juicer.

Roma Tomatoes

Easy to obtain at grocery stores throughout the year, Roma tomatoes are plum-shaped, meaty and have few seeds. These characteristics make them great for juicing.

Mountain Pride Tomatoes

Developed by North Carolina State University, this tomato variety is ideal for juicing. Mountain Pride Tomatoes are large, flavorful, firm and contain very little seeds.

Choosing The Best Tomatoes for Juicing at the Market

Tomatoes are available year-round at most local grocery stores, but shop during the summer for the best and most fresh varieties. Select the reddest tomatoes available, but look for blemishes or bruises that may indicate a problem with the inner flesh. The tomatoes should be heavy and soft. Heavier tomatoes contain more juice. Smell is the best benchmark for ripeness. The tomato should smell fresh and slightly sweet.

03 Mar

Health Benefits of Tomato Juice

You may already have heard tomato juice described as a “super food” but you may not know exactly why it was placed in this healthy food category. The health benefits of tomato juice are numerous and range from cancer fighting properties to heart and bone health. One look at the list of vitamins and minerals can help you understand just how beneficial this juice can be for the human body. With vitamins C, A, K, E, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and the minerals potassium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus; along with protein, fiber and lycopene, it’s easy to see that tomato juice can be very beneficial for your overall health.

The Antioxidant Lycopene

Lycopene is a very unique antioxidant that is found to be abundant in tomato juice. It helps the human body rid itself of free radicals that damage your cells. Because of this ability to defend your cells, lycopene has been proven to help your body prevent nearly every type of cancer by flushing out carcinogens while also defending your body against atherosclerosis, heart disease, and even heart attacks. It is even believed by many scientists that this super antioxidant can help to prevent osteoporosis by encouraging bone health. Also, it has been shown that lycopene can reverse skin damage from ultraviolet light because of its strong antioxidant properties.

Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol

If you are one of the many people suffering from high blood pressure or an increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol, then you may want to start drinking more tomato juice. The good source of potassium you get in a cup of tomato juice helps regulate blood pressure. The fiber and vitamin B3 in this juice will help to lower bad cholesterol.

Prevent Heart Attacks and Stroke

Potassium also helps your heart (as well as the other muscles in your body) to function properly, which can prevent a heart attack. At the same time, there are compounds called platelet factors that help to prevent blood clots. This can also prevent heart attacks and even strokes. The vitamin B6 helps breakdown homocystene, a compound that damages your blood vessels, keeping your heart and major blood vessels healthy.

Increase Bone and Joint Health

I mentioned earlier about lycopene protecting bones and keeping them healthy. The Vitamin C in tomato juice also keeps bones and teeth healthy. There are many great antioxidants in tomatoes that help defend your bones against free radicals. A recent scientific study showed that taking tomatoes completely out of someone’s diet actually became detrimental to their bone density.

Tomato Juice Will Boost Your Immune System

Of course with the excellent source of vitamin C, you probably already realize tomatoes are good for your immune system. The antioxidants and vitamin A are also good for boosting your immune system. The B vitamins and amino acids also help your immune system because they are important for building those immune system cells. With a healthy immune system you are less likely to become ill and, if you do get sick, you will fight it off much more quickly.

Other Health Benefits Of Tomato Juice

Tomato juice has been shown to help prevent certain cases of Alzheimer’s disease possibly due to the rich source of antioxidants. Tomatoes also seem to help people manage their diabetes better and even reduce obesity. In animal studies, consuming tomato juice appears to prevent emphysema, probably because of the great source of antioxidants protecting the lungs. On top of these benefits the B vitamins in tomato juice can give you more energy, improve your memory and make you feel better overall.

Every day scientists are uncovering more health benefits of this super food and, although many more disease preventions are associated with the tomato, it is not yet understood how the preventive properties work. More research is being conducted to affirm and determine the true health potential of this amazing fruit. It is like a tasty wonder drug with no negative side effects.

24 Feb

Tomato Nutrition Facts

Tomato Nutrition Facts

Betaine 0 mg
Calcium 10 mg
Calories 18 Calories
Carbohydrate 3,9 g
Carotene-a 101 mcg
Carotene-ß 449 mcg
Choline 0 mg
Copper 0,1 mg
Dietary Fiber 1,2 g
Fluoride 0 mcg
Folate 15 mcg
Iron 0,3 mg
Lutein-zeaxanthin 123 mcg
Lycopene 2573 mcg
Magnesium 11 mg
Manganese 0,15 mg
Niacine 0,594 mg
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) 387 µ mol TE
Pantothenic Acid 0,2 mg
Phosphorus 29 mg
Phytonutrients 3246 mcg
Potassium 237 mg
Protein 0,9 g
Pyridoxine Vit. B6 0,08 mg
Riboflavin Vit. B2 0 mg
Selenium 0,4 mcg
Sodium 5 mg
Sugar 0 g
Thiamine 0,037 mg
Total Fat 0,2 g
Vitamin A 1496 IU
Vitamin B6 0,08 mg
Vitamin C 13 mg
Vitamin E 0,24 mg
Vitamin K 7,9 mcg
Water 94,8 g
Zinc 0,17 mg

23 Feb

Tomato Juice Side Effects: Can You Drink Too Much Tomato Juice?

Several possible side effects are notorious for accompanying excessive amounts of tomato juice. The main side effect of consuming tomato juice too often is a spike in sodium levels. Ingesting tomato juice too often can drastically increase your body’s sodium intake. While sodium is an essential mineral that promotes a healthy heart and assists in proper function of your muscles, abundant amounts can be dangerous. Health experts warn that a high-sodium diet can contribute to heart and blood pressure issues. Some of the most severe, lasting side effects of a long-term, high-sodium diet is the possibility of critical health conditions.

Tomato Juice Side Effects: Too Much Sodium

Professionals state that the kidneys are responsible for processing sodium. Therefore, too much sodium prevents proper kidney function and can lead to hypertension. Nutritionists stress that at some point further down the line, hypertension can result in numerous medical concerns such as stroke, kidney disease and more. Too much sodium can easily contribute to things like hypertension which can result in immense health issues. Clearly, tomato juice side effects can lead to detrimental aftermath.

Copious amounts of tomato juice can also lead to major discomfort such as heartburn, bloating from the high amounts of sodium and has the potential for intestinal and digestive complications.

Tomato Juice Is Acidic

It’s common knowledge that tomato juice is quite acidic and therefore, can cause damage to vital, internal organs like your esophagus. It’s obvious that too much tomato juice can lead to some health issues and discomfort.

Skin Coloring

Other tomato juice side effects include external effects such as skin coloring. Health professionals explain that tomatoes and tomato products are rich in a compound known as lycopene, which gives tomatoes their color.

According to Yahoo!, there was a study conducted on a “middle-aged woman” who drank tremendous amounts of tomato juice for an extended period of time and consequently, achieved a yellow-orange skin color as a result of high intakes of lycopene (study). However, after a few weeks of a lycopene free diet, her skin was shown to go back to its normal color. Lycopene can have adverse results if one is unknowingly allergic to it. As with most cases of allergic reactions to products, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and other side effects can occur.

All of the tomato juice side effects mentioned above can be quite uncomfortable and stressful to deal with. Allergic reactions to certain ingredients found in tomato juice can be adverse. The long-term, future side effects due to mass consumption of tomato juice can be rather severe and life-changing. However, all of these side effects can be avoided if one is aware of their food and beverage allergies, keeps track of their sodium levels and follows the general guideline of consuming everything in moderation since for this side effects to appear you would have to drink quite large quantities of tomato juice on regular basis.

24 Jan

Which Fruit Has The Most Lycopene?

What is Lycopene?

Lycopene is a red, fat-soluble pigment from the carotenoid family that can be found in certain fruits and vegetables. Lycopene aids in photosynthesis by serving as a light-gathering pigment while protecting plants from some of the more toxic effects of oxygen and light. It is most commonly found in fruits and vegetables with a red or reddish color such as tomatoes, watermelon, red carrots and papayas. Interestingly enough, it is not found in strawberries or cherries despite the fact that both fruits are well-known for their deep red color. Unlike other carotenoids, lycopene has no vitamin A activity.

Lycopene in Our Body

The benefits of lycopene to the plants and microorganisms in which it is found are obvious, but the pigment can also be very beneficial for us as well. First of all, lycopene is a very powerful antioxidant, meaning that it neutralizes harmful free radicals that have been known to contribute to cardiovascular disease, cancer and age-related diseases such as macular degeneration. Studies have shown that a diet rich in lycopene or a regiment of lycopene supplements may be especially effective in preventing prostate, lung and stomach cancer. One study performed by Harvard found that men who ate at least two servings of tomato sauce a week were up to 36 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who ate less than one serving per month. Like nearly all foods made from tomatoes, tomato sauce is of course high in lycopene.

Lycopene is said to be generally safe. There do seem to be some side effects of having too much lycopene in one’s system, the most significant of which seems to be the way in which it can interfere with chemotherapy or other cancer treatments. A high concentration of lycopene or other carotenoids can result in the substance acting as a free radical, which may contribute to lung cancer in smokers.

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