Have you ever had your lycopene now? If you ate a green salad with fresh chopped tomatoes, then you got a healthy dose of the potent antioxidant, but you also have taken significant actions toward lowering your blood pressure. A current double-blind study conducted in Israel has shown that which hearth-healthy Italians have enjoyed for centuries – tomatoes (and tomato sauce) lower blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Research
The Israeli study was headed by Dr. Esther Paran, head of the hypertension division of Soroka Medical Center. It involved patients who were being treated for hypertension, but weren’t responding well to the drugs. Dr. Paran had patients choose a supplement of tomato extract. The results were a substantial drop in blood pressure after only four weeks. Tomatoes are so good at lowering blood pressure since they contain lycopene.
This powerful antioxidant is even the attention of some hybrid berries grown from the Israeli firm, Lycomato, so as to have higher concentrations of lycopene in every piece of fruit. Other antioxidants found in berries make this 1 super-food in preventing cardiovascular disease. It may help keep LDL cholesterol from oxidizing making it stick to the arteries and narrow the passage manner causing blood pressure to rise.
Good to know
Even during the peak growing season it can be tricky to consume four complete tomatoes every day, that’s the recommended amount for having a positive effect on blood pressure. Here are some strategies to get the benefits of berries without needing to eat them straight off the vine.
- Make Chili. Using tomato puree, which is a concentrated form of berries, as the foundation for your chili uses the antioxidants without the majority of an entire tomato. Add some ultra-lean and higher protein floor bison and kidney beans with minced onions and garlic, and cayenne pepper and you get a heart-healthy principal course and a complete day’s allowance of tomato.
- Since using olive oil together with the berries enhances the curative grade, make your pasta sauce red with berries, tomato paste and olive oil to sauté the onion and garlic. Tomato paste used in creating sauce contains over 10 times the nutrition of one tomato.
- Have a fresh salad as a side dish to either of those entrees and cut one whole tomato on top. You’ll receive one-quarter of you tomato intake right there.
- Drink tomato juice. It’s much better to create your own fresh juice so you can control the sodium. Store bought juices can be high in sugar and sodium-based preservatives. If you’ve got a juicer, you can create some unbelievable veggie juices to fit your own tastes by including carrots, celery and a few low-sodium seasonings.
- Take a tomato supplement. If you simply can not stomach tomatoes, then a 200 mg supplement provides the equivalent of more than the recommended four berries. Adding tomatoes to your diet can decrease systolic blood pressure by 10 points and diastolic pressure by 4 factors as was evident from the Israel study. Whatever way you slice it, tomatoes will keep fortify your immune system and lower blood pressure.
