Healthy Living by Tomato and Friends
New research revealed that lycopene has more to offer to our health than first met the eye. But tomato is by far not the only or most abundant source of lycopene.
New research results have been on offer for an illness called endometriosis. If you don’t know exactly what it is, join the club; I spent the day reading it up in three languages. To put it diffidently, doctors agree not to agree what it is and where it comes from. Or more succinctly, it’s once more one of those doctor’s illnesses: I don’t exactly know what it is but it has to do with the womb, I therefore diagnose endometriosis. At that point I abandoned that track and went back to what lycopene was able to do.
That proved easier to follow, as lycopene seems to stop the body from building scar tissue in or around affected areas where aspects of any form of endometriosis is found. As it does this also with scar tissue after surgical treatments, let’s keep that in mind even if it is only one of the symptoms of the illness. That at least is one point where the doctors agreed in all three languages, the scar tissue is not the illness. But the scar tissue is the source of the pain patients feel.
Wayne State University in Detroit had done tests with lycopene levels equal to a healthy diet, and found that 90 per cent of chemical activity leading to scar tissue was suppressed by lycopene. As we are talking about a healthy diet, this means it can be taken with any fruit that contains lycopene without resorting to tablets, which already are foisted off again on the unwary.
The top placement in lycopene content goes to gac, a Chinese sweet gourd, which contains 70 times as much as the runner up, the tomato. Further fruits in the list are watermelon, rose grapefruit, papaya, and rose-hip. The last four again have much lower contents than the tomato. And you thought ketchup was unhealthy? Contrariwise, as you may read up in Little Known Facts About Ketchup.
Is it possible to overdose lycopene? (Just to get the usual pirate story out of the way, this time of a woman who became all red from drinking too much tomato juice; balderdash.) No it is not possible to overdose, as long as you don’t take any pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical products contain several thousand times what may be found in natural sources. Therefore, what I said on vitamins in Vitamin Overdose: A Myth holds true here as well.
Lycopene has many side effects, and all of them positive. For the total please refer to the articles Lycopene and the Tomato and A Tomato A Day to get the details. For those who like their looks in the mirror, the skin is also positively affected as seen in Avid Tomatoes Eaters Have Healthy Glowing Skin: Myth or Fact?. And for healthy skin care on a budget, you might want to read Natural Skin Care Solution 1: Tomato and Lemon Juice.
All these articles contain valuable information about lycopene and what it can do for you. And I go and buy my next bottle of ketchup now. I knew, something as good as that couldn’t be unhealthy.
Liked it
joystick7 | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Healthy info
Lucas Dié | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
lindalulu | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Great information, I love tomatoes, but never heard of a gac.
Lucas Dié | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Thank you lindalulu. I have eaten the weet gourd in Chinese food, it’s delicious, but I didn’t know it was called Gac either until I started research
R J Grant | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Now there is some great info. Also -
lycopene – Suppresses scar tissue following a coronary plaque rupture i.e., helps prevents heart disease.
Grant
Lucas Dié | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Great info R J, thanks – anyone for fries and lots of ketchup tonight? – It’s healthy
papaleng | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
a very helpful one. thanks for sharing
MJPatrick | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
I tell you guys, I can’t eat my meal without tomato in the menu.
But I had never known how valuable eating eat. Thank you.
Judy Sheldon | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the interesting read, and for including me. I appreciate it. Light on the fries, heavy on the ketchup. It is an amazing condiment.
Thanks and God bless.
Inna Tysoe | Nov 16, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the read and the links
Inna
Lucas Dié | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Thank you all
There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a fresh tomato with a bit of salt
Yes, I too love my tomato!
Brian Daniel Stankich | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Lucas, way to add value to the Net and to our lives!
Terri Lane | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
I was getting very bored with tomatoes, but I shall eat them avidly now in those ever present Greek salads…
Lucas Dié | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Terri, don’t salad them … there are these lovely stuffed tomatoes … and if like me you don’t fancy rice, then chuck out the rice and stuff them only with meat and onion, serve with noodles
BC Doan | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
I better learn to like tomatoes..Great information to know!
Lucas Dié | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
go for Gac instead
Debra. | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
Endometriosis is when the tissue grows outside the uterus forming small implant like growth. It can cause heavy and painful periods, fatigue, infertility and even bowl problems along with many others. lycopene is an amazing healer for many things. This is some great info here. God bless!
Lucas Dié | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
Thank you Debra for clarifying that. Wikipedia makes a messof it through the languages, and University publications ride heir own hobby horses, as usual. Glad you liked it all the same.
louie jerome | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
~Interesting article
Sotiris | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
I eat lots of tomatoes every week. Thanks for sharing
Lucas Dié | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
It’s a good thing if you like them
Thanks for the comments.
genevieve mitchell | Nov 21, 2008 | Reply
My sister Majella suffered from endemetriosis – she had a burst ovary and had it removed. She subseqeuntly got married and had two boys with the one good ovary, Jack and Mark. Who knows she might have had a couple of girls as well had she known of the wonders of the tomatoe. When my daughter Alexandra was a little girl and I wanted her to eat tomatoe I used to ask her Is Tommy your freind today?
If you like cooking Tommy is always your friend!
Good article
Lucas Dié | Nov 21, 2008 | Reply
Thanks Geneviève
I do like your Tommy 
Gail Nobles | Nov 22, 2008 | Reply
Great aricle.
Lucas Dié | Nov 22, 2008 | Reply
Thank you Gail
M J katz | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply
I knew there had to be a subconscience reason why I love tomatoes so much, besides their being chock full of Vitamin C…and, of course, their great taste!
Stuffed tomatoes with meat and onion sounds yum. And since I’m a cheese freak, some cheese to top it all off should taste even better!
Lucas Dié | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply