The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that cancer is the
second-leading cause of mortality in the United States. Cancer is a disease in
which the body's abnormal cells divide and destroy body tissue, and it is one
of the most life-threatening disorders.
While
cancer can strike anyone at any time, some things can be taken to help prevent
it. Avoiding cigarette smoke and wearing sunscreen are two of the most
excellent and most straightforward methods to prevent certain types of cancer.
Still, another less well-known way to prevent cancer is just as easy: drinking
tomato juice.
Tomatoes
include lycopene, which has been associated with lowering the risk of numerous
types of cancer, including prostate cancer, and its potential to enhance bone
health and blood pressure.
According
to Lindsay Wengler, RD at Olive Branch Nutrition, "tomato juice is a
vibrant source of the carotenoid, lycopene." "This nutrient gives
tomatoes their vivid red color, works as a potent antioxidant and has been
demonstrated in multiple studies to lower inflammation and the risk of several
cancers."
Lycopene
helps prevent some types of cancer, but it has also been shown to kill prostate
cancer cells in a Brazilian study.
Similar findings were reported in a survey conducted by the medical faculty of the Catholic University of Rome, which
demonstrated that lycopene inhibits the growth of cancer cells in people. The
researchers looked at people with various cancers, including breast, prostate,
stomach, colon, and oral cancer.
That
isn't to argue that cancer patients should abandon therapy to drink tomato
juice. Still, it is helpful to know that tomatoes and tomato products,
including tomato juice, are effective cancer-prevention strategies thanks to
their lycopene. While lycopene can be found in every variety of tomato,
according to Wengler, it's usually more potent in a concentrated form, such as
tomato juice.
"The
lycopene in tomatoes is more effective in a concentrated and boiled form like
tomato juice, which has 23 milligrams of lycopene per 8-ounce glass,"
explains Wengler.
The best method to drink tomato juice, and the most excellent way to get the most nutritional value from it, is to drink freshly squeezed juice, free of the additional sugars present in store-bought juice containers.