Tomatoes:
The Red Army in the War Against Cancer
Article Courtesy of Dr. Reginald B. Cherry, M.D.

The tomato is being hailed as a life-saving “wonder fruit” which can reduce the chances of dying from cancer. Research from around the world shows that tomatoes have powerful anti-cancer properties, especially in cancers of the stomach, lungs, and prostate. This is especially important news if you are a male. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Modern medicine says it’s not if but when – that all men will face prostate problems if they live long enough! Thank God, you don’t have to!

The Cancer Research Campaign says several studies suggest that the extent to which tomatoes reduce aggressive prostate cancer may be as high as 50 percent, and it is believed the fruit can also combat a host of other cancer, including those of the pancreas, bowel, breast, and cervix.

The secret lies in the fact that tomatoes – and tomato-based food products – are a rich source of lycopene, a compound thought to reduce cancer risk, and also the component that makes tomatoes red.

Experts in America and Britain have looked at 72 separate studies from Poland, Japan, Israel, Spain, and Norway, and found that 57 reported associations between tomato intake or blood lycopene level and reduced cancer. Of these, 35 were clearly statistically significant.

Professor Gordon McVie, the campaign’s director general, said: “Just how it helps isn’t exactly clear. Until recently, the health aspects of this understated little fruit have received relatively little attention. But lycopene is known to have antioxidant properties and tomatoes are packed to their skins with lycopene.” Apart from being a good source of vitamins A and C, and when eaten raw, vitamin E, there is compelling data backing the anti-cancer properties.

Strange but True: Tomato craving tied to iron deficiency

Iron-deficiency anemia has long been associated with an unusual symptom, pica. Pica is an extreme craving for specific foods (lettuce, chips, ice, even plain dirt). Now an Ohio-based physician has linked the deficiency with an excessive craving for tomatoes.

“The take-home point is that it is not a bad idea to check the hemoglobin (an indicator of iron status) of patients who report any unusual cravings,” Dr. Mark A. Marinella, an Ohio physician with Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, reported.

Marinella said tomatoes are not presently included in the list of foods that are associated with cravings. Pica occurs in up to 60 percent of patients with iron-deficiency anemia, when it typically manifests as pagophagia – a craving for ice. The physician dubs this new craving “tomatophagia.”

While he could not explain the link between iron-deficiency anemia and tomatoes, he suggests that there may be “something about iron-deficiency anemia that causes the craving.” In a letter published in an article of The New England Journal of Medicine, Marinella describes a 66-year-old woman who consumed six to ten whole tomatoes daily over a two-month period. The patient also was taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis – drugs associated with risk of stomach ulcers.

Test show that the woman had irritation of her stomach and esophagus that may have caused her to lose blood, leading to anemia. The patient was taken off her painkillers, given a blood transfusion, and prescribed iron supplements. After several weeks of taking iron, the patient’s anemia resolved, and her craving for tomatoes disappeared – “a result that is diagnostic of pica,” Marinella said.

Dr. Marinella noted that previous reports of cravings for crunchy or salty foods have also been linked to iron-deficiency anemia. He added, “Patients with food pica typically ingest large amount of crunchy foods such as celery, carrots, peanuts, seeds, crackers, and pretzels.” Tomatoes are good, but ten a day? Remember iron deficiency is found primarily in younger women. Don’t take iron as part of your supplement unless you’ve been diagnosed with deficiency. It can cause heart attacks.

The “magic” in ketchup

Smothering steaks, burgers, scrambled eggs, and potatoes with tomato ketchup might make gourmets shudder, but scientists say they have confirmed that it has an even higher concentration of lycopene than a fresh, ripe, uncooked tomato because processing (and cooking) lowers the water content.

Eating a tomato a day could provide protection against cancer and a good helping of fiber – also important to optimum health. Squirts of ketchup and other tomato-based products, such as pizza sauce or tomato puree, also provide the benefits of lycopene.

Some researchers believe that eating cooked tomatoes helps the body to absorb lycopene more easily.