Obviously I believe that tomatoes are one of the best foods we have. In the Greek kitchen tomatoes transform even the most boring vegetable into a delicious meal. But even plain, good, in-season tomatoes are wonderful with a sprinkle of salt or with some cheese or with a drizzle of olive oil.
We know that they are a good source of vitamin C, have very few calories and also have an antioxidant called lycopene that appears to protect from prostate cancer.
And now a new British study showed that men who consume 10 servings of tomatoes a week had an 18% less chance of developing prostate cancer.
The researchers note that this may be due to lycopene, which fights off toxins that can cause DNA and cell damage.
You may think prostate cancer is not that common, but it is. It is the most common cancer in men in Europe and the second most common cancer in men in the world
So what is a serving? About 2 medium tomatoes or ½ cup tomato sauce. So basically you can get this just by eating a small tomato salad and of course by cooking most of your vegetables in tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes as we do here in Greece. Or the Spanish sofrito sauce.
That way not only are you getting your tomato serving, but also your vegetable serving all in one! And don’t forget the olive oil. Researchers have found that when tomato is heated with olive oil there is more absorption of lycopene.
The study was published in the journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
Your recipes are delicious. Before I started on a Mediterranean diet About 6 months ago I had high cholesterol and blood pressure.
A few weeks ago I went to the doctor for my annual check up and now have normal blood pressure and my cholesterol levels are also back to normal. I put all this down to eating lots of vegetables, olive oil, garlic, herbs and spices and oily fish ( I also love feta cheese ).
I use very little salt and eat red meat only occasionally. Your Lathera recipes are now a staple which I eat with home made rye bread.
After reading this, I think I’ll look at tomatoes a little differently now. We have nowhere near 10 serves each a week, so can easily up the intake. I knew they were good for you, but didn’t know they had that effect on prostate cancer. If only they had the same effect on breast cancer. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sarah! Canned tomatoes also count, just watch for the sodium.
Hello, Elena — I’ve recently been catching up on my culinary subscriptions, and while perusing Olive Tomato I saw some kind of reference to a vegetable or veg combination that you said was called xxxxxdomato, but I can’t for the life of me remember what the first part was! You said they were spelled like one word, I think because they go together so much. So, I know “domato” means tomato, but what in the world is the first part?? Thanks!
Hi Danny,
Hmm not sure, I don’t think I used a word that ends in domato, usually domato is used at the beginning of a word. Maybe you mean lathera (which is the vegetable-olive oil-tomato combo) or kokkinista which also refers to using tomato.
Well, now I wonder if I saw it on some other website I may have “googled” looking up some recipe or another. Should have written it down when I saw it. Oh well…..Thanks anyway. And, by the way, am really enjoying your site!