Fruits such as tomatoes and pawpaw
are good for blood pressure controlNature has cures for common ailments that are now prevalent in our communities. One of such cheap and easily accessible treatment for hypertension is tomatoes, reports Sade Oguntola


Most people think of tomatoes as just that cooking condiment that gives stew its flavour. But it is more than this. Eating tomatoes have many medical benefits, like lowering cholesterol, supporting the immune system, reducing the risk of heart disease and combating cancers such as: breast, cervical, colon, esophagus, pharynx, prostate, mouth, rectum and stomach cancer.


Eating tomatoes is able to prevent or treat all these ailments because it is rich in many nutrients including vitamins A and C, traces of several other vitamins and beta carotene. It also has small amounts of iron and other minerals as well as a very small amount of protein.


Like some other fruits and vegetables, tomatoes contain lycopene and it is this substance that gives them the colour. A study also found that women with high blood lycopene levels had a reduction in heart disease. In the research, scientists gave half their subjects tomato ketchup and the other half tomato juice. At the end of the study both group taking ketchup and tomatoes juice had their cholesterol dropped by an average of 6 per cent.


Similarly, Israeli scientists said that tomatoes could help lower blood pressure. Professor Ester Paran, chief of the Hypertension Unit at Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheva led a group of medical researchers in discovering that lycopene, the natural red pigment in tomatoes, lowers blood pressure in persons with hypertension. Besides tomatoes, lycopene is also found in red peppers and pawpaw.


According to him, tomatoes are a natural substance proven both scientifically and clinically to effectively reduce hypertension and so offer possibility of reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack too.


Among the 30 patients with mild hypertension ranging from 40 to 65 years of age who had never taken drugs for their condition that participated in the study, the Isreali scientists found that the extract of tomato reduced systolic blood pressure (the top number) by an average of 10 points and diastolic (the bottom number) by an average of four points, a significant decrease.


Beneficial effects on blood lipids, lipoproteins and oxidative stress markers were also noted in the study, which was presented in 2006 edition of the American Heart Journal.


Tomato extract is particularly appealing for reducing mild cases of hypertension because, unlike some medications for hypertension, it has no side effects. According to Thomas D. Giles, M.D., president of the American Society of Hypertension, tomato’s antioxidants, including lycopene, beta carotene and vitamin E, may have caused the effect too along side the potassium it has too. Potassium helps to improve blood pressure because it helps in reducing the oxidative stress on blood vessels such as the artery.


However, Dr. Christopher Alebiosu, a consultant nephrologist at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital, (OOUTH), Sagamu said tomatoes may be helpful in preventing hypertension, explaining that the higher the amount of fruits and vegetables one consumes, the better the control and or prevention of one's blood pressure.


He explained that fruits and vegetables are able to lower blood pressure because of their constituents such as potassium. “Tomatoes like other fruits that are reddish in have potassium in them and so are helpful in reducing an individual’s chances of developing hypertension.”


Meanwhile, a half-cup serving of tomato sauce or five pieces of tomato fruits is just the right amount to take. Since commercial tomato sauces can be too salty, it is better making homemade sauce from “good fresh tomatoes.” In Blacks, intake of too much table salt can also make blood pressure remain high.


In people with hypertension, oxidative stress is one of the reasons the high blood pressure causes other complications like stroke and heart failure. But regular consumption of a diet rich in tomatoes can equally prevent such complications of hypertension because it is rich in lycopene, researchers from People’s College of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bhanpur, India, in the 2007 edition of the Annals Nutrition Metabolism also declared.


Meanwhile, according to the National Cancer Institute, there is now enough data to show that people who consume large amounts of tomatoes and tomato products have a significantly decreased risk for lung, and stomach cancer. There is some evidence that people who consume a lot of tomatoes may also have a lower risk of pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, oral, breast, and cervical cancers.


The consensus seems to be that lycopenes, bioflavonoids that are closely related to beta carotene, present in tomatoes are the natural cancer-fighting agents responsible. Cooking releases the fat-soluble lycopenes from the fruits’ cells. In fact, cooking tomatoes rather than eating them raw has been shown to more than double the effectiveness of the lycopene tomatoes contain.


Its dried form Dr. Lester M. Morrison of the Philadelphia General Hospital, also described as useful for preventing diarrhea successfully in the American Journal of Digestive Diseases.


He reported that diarrhea from simple, or non-organic causes can be stopped within four hours by using the tomato pomace, prepared by dehydrating tomato pulp. Tomato pomace relieved diarrhea from food poisoning, mucous and spastic colitis, nutritional deficiencies, food allergy (other than that caused by tomatoes), and other causes. No toxic symptoms were observed from its use.


To soothe eye irritation, Chinese doctors suggest eating one ot two fresh tomatoes first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Scientists believe that the Vitamin C and flavonoids in the tomatoes strengthen the blood vessels.


Tomato is excellent for cleaning and rejuvenating the skin. Proponents say that tomatoes are useful for healing sunburn. Tomato can be used to transform a painful sunburn into a modest tan. Tribal medicine men often prescribed poultices made from the leaves of wild tomato to heal wounds and sores. You can get the benefit of the wound healing property of tomato from the fruit also.


Hypoglycemic people (those who have low blood sugar) are beset with constant fatigue and lack of energy. Tomatoes are useful in rebuilding their strength. Tomato affects this process three ways: Tomatoes contain several naturally occurring sugars. These account for nearly 50 per cent of the total dry matter. Ripe tomatoes are especially high in glucose and fructose.


Tomatoes stimulate liver mechanism. Doctors at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan reported that fresh tomato juice was extremely effective in accelerating the glycogen (blood sugar) formation in normal rabbits.


Consuming tomatoes can be a key to a healthy liver too. Russian doctors prescribe tomatoes in the diets of factory workers exposed to toxic chemical. Tomatoes are useful detoxifiers because of the presence of chlorine and sulphur, two very important detoxifying trace elements.

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