Abstract
Tomatoes are consumed worldwide as fresh vegetables because of their high contents of essential nutrients and antioxidant-rich phytochemicals. Tomatoes contain minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential amino acids (leucine, threonine, valine, histidine, lysine, arginine), monounsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids), carotenoids (lycopene and β-carotenoids) and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol). Lycopene is the main dietary carotenoid in tomato and tomato-based food products and lycopene consumption by humans has been reported to protect against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive function and osteoporosis. Among the phenolic compounds present in tomato, quercetin, kaempferol, naringenin, caffeic acid and lutein are the most common. Many of these compounds have antioxidant activities and are effective in protecting the human body against various oxidative stress-related diseases. Dietary tomatoes increase the body’s level of antioxidants, trapping reactive oxygen species and reducing oxidative damage to important biomolecules such as membrane lipids, enzymatic proteins and DNA, thereby ameliorating oxidative stress. We reviewed the nutritional and phytochemical compositions of tomatoes. In addition, the impacts of the constituents on human health, particularly in ameliorating some degenerative diseases, are also discussed.
Highlights
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.), which are frequently included in the Mediterranean diet and are widely consumed as vegetables, play an important role in nutrition because of their well-established health benefits [1]
A comprehensive literature search was performed by combining the appropriate keywords including “tomato”, “nutritional composition”, “proximate composition”, “phytochemicals”, “physiochemical properties”, “mineral”, “vitamin”, “fatty acid”, “amino acid”, “carotenoid”, “phytosterol”, “antioxidant properties”, “bioactive compounds”, “health benefits”, “human degenerative diseases”, “cardiovascular diseases”, “diabetes” and “cancer”
Antioxidants are super-protective agents that inactivate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and prevent oxidative damage [130]. Natural antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, different types of carotenoids and phenolic compounds including quercetin, kaempferol, caffeic acid, naringenin, chlorogenic acid, lutin, ferulic acid, lycopene, resveratrol, catechin and luteolin are present in tomato [6,92]
Summary
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.), which are frequently included in the Mediterranean diet and are widely consumed as vegetables, play an important role in nutrition because of their well-established health benefits [1]. Due to the high concentrations of different natural antioxidant chemicals, such as carotenoids (β-carotenoids and lycopene), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), tocopherol (vitamin E) and bioactive phenolic compounds (quercetin, kaempferol, naringenin and lutein, as well as caffeic, ferulic and chlorogenic acids), tomatoes can help ameliorate many diseases, especially chronic diseases [12,13]. In this review, we bring together information on all the nutrient compositions of tomato such as proximate composition, minerals, heavy metals, vitamins, fatty acids, amino acids, carotenoids, phytosterols, antioxidant activity and different types of bioactive compounds. We discuss the associated health benefits of the bioactive compounds present in tomato in preventing chronic degenerative diseases, such as CVDs, diabetes, and cancer
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