The British Daily Mail reports that a new study has found tomatoes can help lower high cholesterol or high blood pressure, and their effects may be comparable to a small dose of statin drugs.
Tomato Spare Ribs
Australian researchers discovered that lycopene can lower levels of so-called "bad cholesterol," or low-density lipoprotein, in the blood. However, eating just one tomato a day does not provide enough lycopene, so the researchers suggest people should try eating tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is rich in lycopene, and it's not difficult to consume 50 grams of it daily with pasta or pizza. Of course, it can also be consumed as a drink; if you ingest more than 25 milligrams of lycopene per day, it can lower "bad cholesterol" levels by about 10%.
The researchers pointed out that lycopene is equivalent to a low-dose medication without side effects, such as not causing muscle pain or damaging nerves. Lycopene is also a powerful antioxidant, and it is also found in fruits like watermelon, guava, papaya, and apricot, although the lycopene content in these is lower.