Packed with vital nutrients, tomatoes are important in a healthy, cancer-preventing diet; whether in the form of tomato chunks in a salad or tomato soup, increasing your consumption of tomatoes is a good step towards optimal health.  

According to Food and Beverages Nutritionist Lovely Ranganath, tomatoes main nutrients include lycopene, alpha and beta carotene, vitamin C, lutein, potassium, and fiber. Tomatoes are richer than any other plant foods in lycopene, known to be the most potent of all antioxidants.  A phytonutrient or plant constituent, lycopene has been proven in clinical trial studies to help combat cancer of the prostate, bladder, and other organs; working as an antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals that can damage cells in the body. Lycopene can also act as an internal sun block. Working together with the other antioxidant nutrients in tomatoes, it can help protect your skin from the damaging effects of ultra-violet light.  

Moreover, a diet rich in vitamin C from fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, heart attack, and diabetes. Vitamin C lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels, helps thin the blood, and protects it against oxidation. Fat-soluble vitamin A is involved in the formation and maintenance of healthy skin, hair, and mucous membranes. Eating just one tomato a day provides one-third of your daily requirement of vitamin C and one to two grams of fiber.  

Ideally, we should be eating three to four servings of tomatoes a week; a single serving is about one large tomato, equivalent to about half a cup. When choosing your tomatoes, Lovely advises picking those with the most brilliant shades of red. These indicate the highest amounts of beta-carotene and lycopene.  

Cooked tomatoes may enhance the nourishment, providing more health benefits than eating raw tomatoes. In fact, research shows that more lycopene is absorbed from cooked tomatoes such as canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and spaghetti sauce than from fresh tomatoes. “In addition, when lycopene is combined with a small amount of fat, its absorption is even better, making olive oil and tomato sauce a perfect and healthy combination,” explains Lovely.