Tomatoes Linked To Lower Stroke Risk

[bower]

Moshou,
I think that in the human body lycopene acts as an anti-oxidant, so it helps to prevent cell damage caused by toxins, free radicals etc. and perhaps in that way might reduce cardiovascular disease by keeping those tissues in better condition.

A lot of studies are done only on men.

[Moshou]

Thanks Bower,

What about non red colored tomatoes?
They are for women?

[bower]

Originally Posted by Moshou

Thanks Bower,

What about non red colored tomatoes?
They are for women?

Sure, why not!
There is still lycopene in black tomatoes, for sure, there's just extra chlorophyll pigments as well.

Lycopene and carotenes are all in the same group of phytochemicals called 'carotenoids', with very similar isoprenoid chemical structure, not very soluble in water, soluble in oil. Of course when you mix carotenes (yellow) and lycopene (red or pink) you would expect to get in-between orange colours. And as well, small differences in chemical structure produce different colours or shades in these and other natural pigments.

They also say that there is a different form of lycopene, 'tetra-cis-lycopene' in yellow and orange tomatoes which is more bioavailable than the red form - mostly 'trans-lycopene' - found in red tomatoes, so they're just as good for you if not better! Possibly the tetra-cis-lycopene form looks more orange than red?

So I think the women will get just as much benefit from the non-reds, if it comes to that. Health benefits for all.

[Doug9345]

In one of the articles it also said that cooking tomatoes made the lycopene more available so tomato sauce is as good for you as fresh tomatoes.

Traditionally men were used in drug studies because researchers didn't want to expose a potientially pregnant women to an unknown drug and themselves to a law suit. It was ASSUMED that drugs worked the same in both sexes. The same methodology gets carried over into other areas.

[bower]

Originally Posted by Doug9345

In one of the articles it also said that cooking tomatoes made the lycopene more available so tomato sauce is as good for you as fresh tomatoes.
.

I also think it's like the oily vitamins (A & D), that the lycopene and carotenes are better absorbed if eaten with or cooked in oil. Maybe the food oil is enough to signal the right kind of breakdown procedures?
Oil and vinegar, or oil and lemon, in a dressing should help to make them biovailable, too, I reckon.... could something so traditional and delicious be wrong?
I'll also admit, I chronically cook carrots in a little oil and honey. I've convinced myself that bitter carotenes are not bioavailable, and are better for my health if attached to some sugars!

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by bower

I'll also admit, I chronically cook carrots in a little oil and honey. I've convinced myself that bitter carotenes are not bioavailable, and are better for my health if attached to some sugars!

A person after my own heart. I was explaining to someone that a cooked carrot was better for me than a raw one and they were arguing that it wasn't. I explained to them that it was because I liked eating cooked carrots and wasn't going to eat a raw one.

[Moshou]

Originally Posted by bower

Oil and vinegar, or oil and lemon, in a dressing should help to make them biovailable, too, I reckon.... could something so traditional and delicious be wrong

As far as I know, a little oil improves the lycopene absorption in the body

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Doug9345

A person after my own heart. I was explaining to someone that a cooked carrot was better for me than a raw one and they were arguing that it wasn't. I explained to them that it was because I liked eating cooked carrots and wasn't going to eat a raw one.

Can't fight with that logic!

PS Of course I personally love em both ways!

[kilroyscarnival]

It appears there is a respected sports-medicine research facility in Finland, the Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, Kuopio, which conducted the research. It may be that the research was done where the medical brain-trust was located and where the project was funded, and not based on a higher incidence of strokes.

I am just glad to see such research on natural foods and physical exercise as related to health. So much health research funding seems to be attached to pharmeceuticals because of the profit potential. (Not that drugs aren't life savers in many cases.)

[Tonio]

Here's a comparison http://www.healthaliciousness.com/nu...ts-compare.php

cooked gets more vit A , E & B
raw gets more vit C

I like em both ways ,but cooked is easier on my teeth

Please don't start on phytic acid