5 Amazing Health Benefits of Tomato Sauce
Do you know what sounds nice right now? A nice hot plate of hearty pasta. Do you know what sounds even nicer? Knowing that you’re improving your health with all that delicious tomato sauce. Tomatoes are an incredible little fruit with big health benefits that your body craves. Soon, you’ll know there’s no reason to feel guilty about eating every last bite of fresh-made pasta puttanesca. In this article, we’ll discuss some fantastic health benefits of tomato sauce.
1. Improve Heart Health
Everyone’s got a ticker that they need to look after, and one of the best ways you can do that is with tomatoes. Some people take care of their hearts with lycopene supplements, but did you know that tomatoes are a rich and natural source of lycopene? Lycopene is the antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color, and it can help reduce heart disease.
Lycopene reduces free-radical damage and “bad” cholesterol levels while promoting “good” cholesterol levels. In one ten-year study, people with diets rich in lycopene had a 17-26% lower risk of heart disease.
Another benefit of consuming lycopene is reduced risk of developing certain cancers, like lung and prostate cancer. Studies show that diets high in carotenoids (which include lycopene) result in a 32-50% lower risk of lung and prostate cancers.
2. Improve Digestive Health
Tomatoes contain a lot of water, and a whole heap of fiber, as much as 1.5 grams. Fiber is a magical carbohydrate that the body can’t fully break down, but it helps your digestive system chug along at a regular and healthy pace. If you are prone to constipation or looking for a high fiber diet to lower cholesterol and help maintain blood sugar levels, tomato sauce can help.
3. A Huge Source of Essential Vitamins
One of the most important health benefits of tomato sauce is that it’s an excellent source of vitamin C, A, and K, all of which offer incredible benefits to your body. Vitamin C helps your body reduce the risk of chronic disease, manages high blood pressure, lowers the risk of heart disease, prevents iron deficiency, boosts immunity, and helps protect memory. Vitamin A helps your immunity as well while supporting vision and skin health. And vitamin K is vital for blood clotting prevention and bone metabolism.
4. Make Your Bones Stronger
Tomatoes contain significant amounts of calcium and vitamin K. We know that vitamin K is important for bone metabolism. Still, in combination with calcium, your bones will be stronger and more resilient to damage. Even better, your bones will be more capable of healing if minor damage occurs.
5. Improve Gut Health
One of the more surprising health benefits of tomato sauce is its positive effect on your gut health. The gut and got bacteria are two things science has been keeping a close eye on lately, especially regarding how they affect your overall health.
You might have heard of probiotic foods, like yogurt or kimchi, which help increase the good bacteria in your gut. Well, science is discovering that tomatoes have probiotic properties, helping to improve our good gut bacteria. One of the more important bacteria is called L. reuteri, and it helps with your intestinal, oral, and general health. When prepared as a sauce, the positive effects of L. reuteri are enhanced. That means you can expect more work from the stuff in your gut that keeps you healthy.
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