Benefits of tomatoes back in the news.

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Tomatoes' Latest Health Coup Not long ago the news media was ablaze with a new report about the connection between pizza and lower rates of prostate cancer. This had my husband and his friends making a mad dash for the local pizzeria. Of course the truth was a bit more nuanced -- it turned out that men eating more than 10 servings per week of tomato-based products (yes, that included pizza) had lower rates of prostate cancer. The lowly tomato became reborn as a superstar of the produce section. Now, tomatoes are back in the news. A recent report found that a tomato extract product actually lowered blood pressure in patients with stage 1 hypertension. The product -- Lyc-O-Mato -- is an extract of tomato-containing carotenoids (especially lycopene), polyphenols and vitamin E, all

known to have significant health benefits. To find out more about this latest news on tomatoes, I called Steven G. Pratt, MD, author of a number of books on "superfoods," and, as it turns out, he is a big fan of tomatoes. "Tomatoes themselves have many bioactive compounds that are good for cardiovascular health," Dr. Pratt told me. "In particular are polyphenols that can decrease blood pressure by causing vasodilation or widening of the blood vessels," Dr. Pratt explained. "Ninety percent of Americans are at risk for being diagnosed with high blood pressure at some point in their lives and reducing blood pressure by as little as a single digit produces a reduction in cardio risk factors." In other words, it doesn't take much to get a benefit. Dr. Pratt explained that the benefits of tomatoes -- and tomato extracts or tomato food products

like tomato paste -- go beyond just blood pressure and prostate cancer. "Two separate studies in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just recently showed that tomato extracts have anti-platelet function, which means they help prevent your blood from clotting, reducing risk for stroke and heart attacks." This is precisely the benefit that many doctors want patients to get from taking aspirin. "The tomato extract does the same thing as aspirin and doesn't have any side effects except for those folks who are sensitive to nightshade alkaloids or allergic to tomatoes or other vegetables in the nightshade species, such as eggplant," said Dr. Pratt. Dr. Pratt also sang the praises of other tomato products such as tomato paste. "I personally drink a daily tomato-based veggie cocktail, R.W. Knudsen Very Veggie Cocktail (Low Sodium), that's only 50 calories, and has 22 mg of lycopene per 8 ounces," he told me.

Be well, Carole Jackson Bottom Line's Daily Health News Vaccination procedures are a politically motivated non-science, whose practitioners are only interested in injecting multitudes of vaccines without much interest or care as to their effects. Data collection on reactions to vaccines is only paid lip service, and the obvious ineffectiveness of vaccines to prevent diseases is glossed over. The fact that natural infectious diseases have beneficial effect on the maturation and development of the immune system is ignored or deliberately suppressed. Consequently, parents of small children and any potential recipients of vaccines and any orthodox medications should be wary of any member of the medical establishment extolling the non-existent virtues of

vaccination. - Viera Scheibner, Ph.D.

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