#nightshadevegetable

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Tomatoes are a kitchen staple in all homes and I am betting on that! It’s one of the ingredients in cooking that is so easy find and you can even grow it in your backyard. We all know the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” but did you know that tomatoes have a lot of health benefits just as much as an apple? Some people ask if tomatoes are good for consumption every day and are tomatoes inflammatory or might cause joint pains because there is a persistent myth that implicates that the tomato, because it is a nightshade vegetable, it can cause inflammation or even worse, arthritis. Some people said that when they avoid and removed nightshade vegetables, the tomato included, from their diet, they felt a lot better with reduced inflammation. Well, it is just a myth! Because there is no concrete evidence or study to prove this. But this is the reason why some people are actually doubtful to eat tomatoes when they feel aching joints all over their body because while there are fruits and vegetables that can reduce inflammation and joint pain, there are also fruits and vegetables that cause inflammation.

The tomato is considered as a powerhouse when it comes to nutritional value. It contains high amounts of vitamin C, potassium and lycopene. Lycopene is an anti-oxidant with great anti-inflammatory properties. So tomatoes are considered as a non-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory food. In fact, in a study of women that are overweight, inflammatory markers in the body of these overweight women decreased when they drink tomato juice. Aside from that, one of its benefits to our body is that it reduces pro-inflammatory compounds linking to different types of cancer. It also includes vitamins and minerals such as biotin, iron, and zinc and can make your skin looking good too because of the lycopene which is a phytochemical. It eliminates free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays which causes our skin to age.

I am not saying that you should eat tomato as much as you want. My nana often told me “too much of anything is bad”. And, if you eat too much tomato, it might cause you some digestive problems because tomatoes contain malic acid and citric acid and might cause skin discolouration.