While many of us know that the antioxidant and phytochemical content of tomatoes can be influenced by environmental conditions, including light intensity, water availability, temperature, as well as the ripeness stage, and all this can have an impact on their potential health effects, there is still considerable evidence about the benefits of lycopene in sundried tomatoes on cardiovascular health.
Carotenoids have received a lot of interest recently in several parts of the world due to their therapeutic potential in altering inflammatory respiratory diseases, especially since the pandemic. [Islam, Muni et al, 2022]
Lycopene is a major dietary carotenoid protecting cells against inflammatory changes. This powerful nutrient is present almost exclusively in tomato and tomato-based products, including sun-dried tomatoes.
I eat cooked tomatoes nearly every day. Alternatively, I have tomato paste in food and/or I make this delicious sun-dried tomato recipe for an easy-peasy breakfast, especially after I’ve exercised.
The consumption of tomato products with lycopene is an important nutritional strategy for midlife and older women. Research suggests that the consumption of lycopene daily, reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases in men and women, breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and ovarian cancer in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. (Górecka et al., 2020). Why wouldn’t you have tomato products?!
Sundried Tomato, Mushroom and Hummus Toast
Ingredients
- Hummus (either make it yourself the day before or buy an organic one without preservatives)
- 1 tbsp EVOO (for cooking)
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- Mushrooms
- Sundried tomatoes
- Spinach or rocket
- Toast (I recommend Organic Sourdough or Rye Bread)
- Toppings: A dash of EVOO, a squeeze of lemon juice and seeds or dukkha.
Method
- You are going to cook the mushrooms and garlic first in a pan on medium heat with a dash of olive oil. Cook until soft and garlicky.
- After the bread is toasted, layer on the hummus, greens, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.
- Top with salt and pepper, seeds or dukkha, a squeeze of lemon juice and another dash of olive oil.
References:
Collins, E.J., Bowyer, C., Tsouza, A., Chopra, M. Tomatoes: An Extensive Review of the Associated Health Impacts of Tomatoes and Factors That Can Affect Their
Cultivation. Biology 2022, 11, 239, 1-44
Górecka, Danuta, Wawrzyniak, Agata, Jędrusek-Golińska, Anna, Dziedzic, Krzysztof, Hamułka, Jadwiga, Kowalczewski, Przemysław Łukasz and Walkowiak, Jarosław. “Lycopene in tomatoes and tomato products” Open Chemistry, vol. 18, no. 1, 2020, pp. 752-756. https://doi.org/10.1515/chem-2020-0050
Islam F, Muni M, Mitra S, Emran TB, Chandran D, Das R, Rauf A, Safi SZ, Chidambaram K, Dhawan M, Cheon C, Kim B. Recent advances in respiratory diseases: Dietary carotenoids as choice of therapeutics. Biomed Pharmacother. 2022 Nov;155:113786.
