Tomatoes: Do they Deserve to be one of our Most Popular Veggies?
Even though they are really a fruit.
When we think of tomatoes, commonly salads or pizza come to mind.
Not cancer.
But tomatoes contain phytochemicals, like lycopenes, that are robust tumor-fighters.
A huge collaborative effort by the Baylor Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, the Interdisciplinary Nutrition Program, The Ohio State University, the Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, the Livestrong Cancer Institutes, Dell Medical School, University of Texas, Austin, and the Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, all did deep tomato dives in the arena of cancer.
They found that the feeding of tomatoes or tomato components demonstrates anti-prostate cancer activity in both transplantable xenograft models of tumorigenesis and models of chemically- and genetically-driven carcinogenesis.
Feeding pure lycopene shows anticancer activity in most studies, although outcomes vary by model system, suggesting that the impact of pure lycopene can depend on dose, duration, and specific carcinogenic processes represented in different models.
In general, interventions that commence earlier in carcinogenesis and are sustained tend to be more efficacious.
This means, once diagnosed, run don’t walk, to your nearest functional cancer specialist to add to your allopathic and oncologic team.
Accumulated data suggest that lycopene is one, but perhaps not the only, anti-cancer bioactive compound in tomatoes.
German Research
German research, as way back as 2006:
Summary: Increasing evidence suggests that a single serving of tomatoes or tomato products ingested daily may contribute to protection from DNA damage. As DNA damage seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer, the regular ingestion of tomatoes or tomato products might prevent the disease.
If tomatoes protect against DNA damage, a major driver of cancer, daily servings of tomatoes should be helpful in many types of cancer patients.
Naringenin
Tomatoes also contain naringenin. This is yet another anti-cancer protective plant chemical found in delicious tomatoes.
Naringenin is an important phytochemical that belongs to the flavanone group of polyphenols and is found mainly in citrus fruits like grapefruits and others such as tomatoes and cherries plus medicinal plants derived food.
Available evidence demonstrates that naringenin, as herbal medicine, has important pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, and anti-cancer activities.
Collected data from in vitro and in vivo studies show the inactivation of carcinogens after treatment with pure naringenin, naringenin-loaded nanoparticles, and also naringenin in combination with anti-cancer agents in various malignancies, such as colon cancer, lung neoplasms, breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate tumors, oral squamous cell carcinoma, liver cancer, brain tumors, skin cancer, cervical and ovarian cancer, bladder neoplasms, gastric cancer, and osteosarcoma.
Naringenin inhibits cancer progression through multiple mechanisms, like apoptosis induction, cell cycle arrest, angiogenesis hindrance, and modification of various signaling pathways including Wnt/β-catenin, PI3K/Akt, NF-ĸB, and TGF-β pathways.
Naringin and naringenin were also documented to overcome multidrug cancer resistance, one of the major challenges to clinical practice due to multiple defense mechanisms in cancer. The effective parameters underlying the anticancer effects of naringenin and naringin include GSK3β inactivation, suppression of the gene and protein activation of NF-kB and COX-2, JAK2/STAT3 downregulation, downregulation of intracellular adhesion molecules-1, upregulation of Notch1 and tyrocite-specific genes, and activation of p38/MAPK and caspase-3.
Naringenin is Also Brain Protective
Dietary supplementation of flavonoids has been shown to mitigate the severity of NDs such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and dementia by their antioxidant effects. Naringenin is a citrus flavonoid that is known to possess numerous biological activities like antioxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, naringenin has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent that exerts preventive and curative effects on several neurological disorders.
In the light of substantial evidence for naringenin's neuroprotective efficacy in several experimental paradigms, this review suggests that this molecule should be investigated further as a viable candidate for the management of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, with an emphasis on mechanistic and clinical trials to determine its efficacy.
To-do Ideas to Get More Lycopene and Naringenin into Your Belly:
Keep cherry (small round) tomatoes washed in the fridge and pop when you open the fridge to explore what to eat, eat these rather than junk snacks.
Keep Mantova tomato paste, a tsp. a day keeps the doctor away (Link to my faves).
Add a tsp of Mantova tomato paste to salad dressings or chicken or fish sauces.
Dip tomato slices in hummus or sour cream and chives or Daiya dairyless sour cream and chives.
Cut up thin slices of tomatoes and add to sandwiches, ideally along with a thin slice of Bubbie’s pickles, too. Yum! Both are great for the gut biome.
Baking or sautéing chicken or turkey? Add in halved cherry tomatoes.
What is your favorite way to eat tomatoes?
Dr. B.
References:
Tomatoes, Lycopene, and Prostate Cancer: What Have We Learned from Experimental Models? J Nutr. 2022 Jun 9;152(6):1381-1403. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac066. PMID: 35278075; PMCID: PMC9178968.
Tomatoes, tomato products and lycopene in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer: do we have the evidence from intervention studies? Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Nov;9(6):722-7. doi: 10.1097/01.mco.0000247470.64532.34. PMID: 17053426.
Naringenin: A potential flavonoid phytochemical for cancer therapy. Life Sci. 2022 Sep 15;305:120752. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120752. Epub 2022 Jun 29. PMID: 35779626.
A comprehensive review on naringenin and naringin polyphenols as a potent anticancer agent. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 May;29(21):31025-31041. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-18754-6. Epub 2022 Feb 4. PMID: 35119637.
Naringenin: A prospective therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. J Food Biochem. 2022 Dec;46(12):e14415. doi: 10.1111/jfbc.14415. Epub 2022 Sep 15. PMID: 36106706.
In a pasta sauce. Wow! I had gone off them when I began functional healing to breast cancer because of the acidity. No more tumor so in my after care, good to know. As an Italian, I love them! Thank you for the information.
Thank you, such great info as a counter to the lectin advisory (Dr. Gundry)! Maybe a good way of looking at it is that for those with concerns about gut inflammation, opt for peeled and de-seeded tomato products? I love the idea of incorporating paste into cooking on a daily basis!