Are Tomatoes Healthy or Bad for You?

Tomatoes are a low-calorie food and could help with weight loss. Tomatoes are healthy because they are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, and lycopene, but they may bad for you if you have an inflammatory condition.

Are tomatoes vegetables or fruits? They are actually both. A vegetable is part of a plant used for food, so a tomato is a vegetable. It is also the ripened, seed-containing ovary of a plant, which makes it a fruit. Most fruits and vegetables are good for you, but some people say you shouldn't eat tomatoes. Are tomatoes a healthy food, or are they bad for you? Learn the facts. 

Tomatoes are a low-calorie food and could help with weight loss. They contain a lot of water and can help you stay hydrated. They also have generous amounts of several vitamins and minerals. 

Vitamin C. This vitamin is important for many processes in the body. The immune system needs it to function properly. Vitamin C also prevents a condition called scurvy and helps the body absorb iron. It may improve heart health and help to keep you cancer-free. 

Vitamin A. Tomatoes contain carotenoids, substances that turn fruits and vegetables yellow, red, and orange. Your body can turn some carotenoids into vitamin A, which helps the organs of the body work correctly. Vitamin A is also good for vision and for the immune system.

Potassium. This mineral is good for the heart and kidneys. It also helps your muscles contract and your nerves transmit messages. Without enough potassium, you are at risk of kidney stones, high blood pressure, and weak bones.

Tomatoes are high in lycopene, an especially beneficial carotenoid. Besides giving tomatoes their red hue, lycopene is a powerful antioxidant. To appreciate the importance of antioxidants, you need to know a little chemistry.

Your body contains free radicals that steal electrons from other atoms and molecules in the body. Losing an electron can damage cells and DNA, causing a condition called oxidative stress. Antioxidants fight oxidative stress. They hunt down free radicals and neutralize them by donating electrons to them. Then, the antioxidants help repair cell structures and DNA.

Antioxidants can be very important for health, and lycopene is an effective one. Scientists are still learning about many of the ways it is good for the body. A 2012 study found that lycopene could reduce your risk of stroke. The study followed over a thousand men for 12 years. It showed that a high level of lycopene in the blood is linked to a lower risk of stroke. 

Lycopene is best taken as food. There is no evidence that lycopene supplements are effective. 

You may have heard or read that you should avoid tomatoes because they are nightshades. Tomatoes belong to the plant family Solanaceae, commonly known as nightshades. However, there is no evidence that nightshades are necessarily bad for you. Other common plant foods are nightshades, including white potatoes, some peppers, and eggplant. 

It's true that nightshades contain alkaloids and that alkaloids can be bad for you, but that's only the case if you eat a lot of them. Chocolate, coffee, and tea also contain alkaloids and are also safe to consume in reasonable amounts. There is no reason to think that tomatoes aren't also safe. 

Some people say they can't eat tomatoes because they are acidic. It's true that tomatoes contain natural acids, but these aren't typically harmful to the body. In fact, as tomatoes digest and enter the bloodstream, the minerals they contain make the body more alkalized rather than more acidic.

If tomatoes give you heartburn, don't eat them, but don't otherwise worry that they will make your body too acidic. The human body usually does a good job of keeping its pH in the proper zone. 

Some people say that tomatoes are an inflammatory food, in which case people with inflammation caused by conditions such as arthritis should avoid them. There is no substantial evidence to support this idea, though. In fact, the antioxidants in tomatoes can reduce inflammation instead of increasing it. 

Research suggests that a diet rich in antioxidants may lower your risk of some diseases, including:

• Cancer. Cell damage from free radicals may cause cancer. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants such as lycopene could therefore have a protective effect. 
• Heart disease. Lycopene may prevent the buildup of plaque in arteries. Also, antioxidants reduce inflammation, which can trigger a heart attack or stroke. 
• Lung disease. Antioxidants may reduce inflammation in airways and lead to improvement in conditions such as asthma.
• Vision loss. Antioxidants can lower your risk of developing macular degeneration, which is a major cause of vision loss. 

Cooked tomatoes are higher in lycopene and other antioxidants than raw tomatoes. Antioxidants exist inside cellular structures that break down when cooked. This is one example of a processed food being healthier in some ways than an unprocessed one, as researchers found that the lycopene was not harmed by commercial cooking or canning processes. You can improve your lycopene levels by eating tomatoes cooked at home or contained in commercial sauces and juices.

That being said, the vitamin C in tomatoes is mostly destroyed by cooking. Researchers concluded, however, that the increase in lycopene is often worth the loss of vitamin C. They point out that lycopene is one of the most effective antioxidants, and it's easy to get vitamin C from other foods. 

Tomatoes come in many varieties, and they are all good for you. 

Buy organic tomatoes if possible, as tomatoes sometimes appear on lists of produce most likely to be contaminated by pesticides. 

A few individuals could have an allergic reaction to tomatoes, but for everyone else, tomatoes are a healthy food that offers real benefits.