Red, large, small, with mozzarella, in salads or processed. Tomatoes. Just water and bowl, or is there more inside than you think? But what are the nutritional values of tomatoes?
Tomatoes may be 95% water, but they make up for the remaining 5%. In this post, we'll explain what's really in tomatoes and give you a few examples of why tomatoes are beneficial for our bodies. Finally, let's look at how the nutritional values of tomatoes compare.
the essentials in brief
- There are many nutrients in tomatoes. They also contain a variety of vitamins.
- Tomatoes are good for health. The nutrients in tomatoes are beneficial to the body on several levels. Among other things, they can prevent heart problems.
- Tomatoes offer a wide range of uses when it comes to losing weight.
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Tomato nutritional facts: what you need to know
Tomatoes have it all. They contain a variety of different nutritional values that the human body needs.
The table below shows which basic nutrients are present in tomatoes and in what amounts. We also put the recommended daily intake in relation. This is linked to an energy requirement of 2000 kcal per day, where the figures are average values, due to the fact that energy and nutrient requirements can vary from person to person and from day to day.
| ingredient | Nutritional value (per 100 g) | Recommended daily intake |
|---|---|---|
| calories | 18 calories | 1450 calories |
| Fat | 0.2g | 66g |
| cholesterol | 0mg | 200 mg |
| sodium | 5 mg | 1500 mg |
| potassium | 237 mg | 4000 mg |
| carbohydrates | 3.9g | 264g |
| protein | 0.9g | 0.8 g/kg body weight |
| Sugar | 3.2g | 61-78g |
| fiber | 1g | 40g |
What special nutritional values and minerals are in tomatoes?
Two substances that are very important for the human body are potassium and folic acid. Potassium and folate are nutrients that are essential to a healthy diet and are both found in tomatoes.
potassium
Potassium is a substance found primarily in plant-based foods. For adults, the DGE (German Society for Nutrition) recommends a potassium intake of 4000 milligrams per day. (2) Potassium is partly responsible for blood pressure control. Tomato consumption can compensate for a potassium deficiency, such as that which can occur after a flu, relatively quickly.
folic acid
Folic acid is a molecule called vitamin B9. We will talk about the remaining vitamins contained in the following topic block. Folsary is important for the tissue structure and for the cells. It is also extremely important for the cognitive areas in our brain. (5)
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with our multivitamin supplement
- packed with vitamins to provide you with important nutrients 🍏
- for a healthy and balanced everyday life ✨/li>
- automatically get 21% discount when you buy it now💰*
*The discount is automatically applied to the product
What vitamins can you find in tomatoes?
In addition to the vitamin B9 just mentioned, folic acid, the vitamins vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin C and vitamin E are present in tomatoes.
Vitamin C in particular is very important, as it is one of the vital substances that the body cannot produce itself. The DGE recommends a daily dose of 110 mg of vitamin C for men and 95 mg of vitamin C for women. This corresponds to a daily dose of tomatoes of around 300 grams.
In addition to vitamin C, both vitamins A and E can be classified as antioxidant vitamins. Vitamin E is considered an outstanding protection against aggressive oxygen molecules that contribute to external aging. It is therefore particularly appreciated in the Beaty area. Like vitamin C, vitamin E must also be supplied to the body with food. A daily dose of approx. 12 – 14 mg of vitamin E is recommended here.
Which diseases can be prevented by the nutritional values of tomatoes?
Prevent diseases with the nutrients from tomatoes? What sounds like a fairy tale that your parents serve up so that you can eat your salad as a child is actually true.
heart health
One of the most common human systems affected by disease is the cardiovascular system. A serving of tomatoes a day "keeps the doctor away". The nutritional values of tomatoes, such as the potassium mentioned earlier, can effectively prevent heart problems. The lycopene found in tomatoes is also particularly important for the cardiovascular system.
pregnancy
The folic acid mentioned above is a vitamin that is important during pregnancy and is found in tomatoes. (2)
Tomatoes are therefore a good source to stay healthy during pregnancy. But nutrition, especially folic acid, has a major impact on the baby, as the need for nutrients increases during pregnancy. Folic acid is one of the nutrients that play an important role in giving birth to a completely healthy child.
Vitamin B9 is normally needed around 550 micrograms daily; the German Society for Nutrition recommends twice as much for pregnant women.
B9, or foal acid, reduces the risk of malformations, among other things.
cancer prevention
When it comes to nutritional values of the tomato, which serve to prevent cancer, the key word is lycopene. Lycopene is a carotenoid found in tomatoes that is believed to protect against cancer. It is found in high concentrations in the skin of the tomato. (6)
Types of cancer that can be prevented are:
- prostate cancer,
- lung cancer,
- esophageal cancer
- and breast and cervical cancer
In order to be able to consume as much lycopene as possible, the following applies:
The redder the peel, the better.
In addition, lycopene is usually found in much more concentrated form in processed products. It is released particularly well by heat and so the substance can be found in tomato sauce in higher doses than in a fresh tomato, for example.
The redder the tomato skin, the higher the dose of lycopene. (Image Source: Pexels / Julia)
What protection do tomatoes offer to the cell membrane?
Lycopene and folic acid are important nutrients in tomatoes that provide important protection for the cell membrane that encloses human cells. (5) (6)
How can you protect yourself from sunburn with tomatoes?
Tomatoes protect against sunburn? Do we have tomatoes on our eyes when we write? No. Indeed true.
We have known this since a study carried out at the University of Düsseldorf in cooperation with the University of Witten/Herdecke. (7) And again the lycopene of the tomato is there to help.
In the study, the tomato consumption even resulted in a 32 percent lower erythema rate in the subjects. This caused an increase in serum lycopene concentrations by about 95%.
How to work with the nutritional values of tomatoes when losing weight?
Because tomatoes are 95% water, they don't naturally have a lot of calories. This makes them the perfect food for weight loss. Nevertheless, they provide enough nutritional values.
Tomatoes are therefore an ideal snack, as the high water content quickly fills you up. Try different varieties and yes, different colors among them. A little tip: Pay attention to the country of origin!
What alternatives are there to tomatoes?
You don't know if you can start enough with regular tomatoes, even though you like the nutritional values? It's always good to have a plan B. That's why we compared potatoes to find the right alternative for you.
Tomatoes vs. Cherry Tomatoes: Comparing Nutritional Facts
Cherry tomatoes are now just as well established on the market as normal ones. But what about the nutritional values of cherry tomatoes?
Regular tomatoes have better nutritional values than cherry tomatoes, but they also have more calories. (Image Source: Unsplash / Clay Banks)
Cherry tomatoes are slightly lower in calories, but the rest of the nutritional values are also lower than those of normal tomatoes. (8) Better sized as snacks, they still offer good nutritional values and are therefore more suitable for quicker consumption.
How do the nutritional values of tomatoes compare to potatoes?
Compare tomatoes to potatoes . No, not a boring math problem from a school book, but very interesting when you compare the nutritional values. We've created a comparison table especially for this, starting with the most interesting nutrient to count: calories.
| ingredient | Nutritional value tomato (per 100 g) | Nutritional value potato (per 100 mg) |
|---|---|---|
| calories | 18 calories | 69 calories |
| Fat | 0.2g | 0.02g |
| potassium | 237 mg | 384 mg |
| carbohydrates | 3.9g | 14g |
| vitamin C | 33g | 12 mg |
| fiber | 1g | 1.56g |
Conclusion
Tomatoes are much more than you might think. Nutritious yet low in calories, so perfect for weight loss. Add to that the many health benefits, from minor issues like sunburn to preventing cancer and being an important nutritional source during pregnancy. 95 percent water, but the 5 percent pack a punch.
itemizations
- Tomatoes, raw (Survey (FNDDS), 1103276) Source
- Fekete K, Berti C, Trovato M, Lohner S, Dullemeijer C, Souverein OW, Cetin I, Decsi T. Effect of folate intake on health outcomes in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis on birth weight, placental weight and length of gestation. Nutr J. 2012 Sep 19;11:75. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-11-75. PMID: 22992251; PMCID: PMC3499376. Source
- Blum A, Monir M, Wirsansky I, Ben-Arzi S. The beneficial effects of tomatoes. Eur J Intern Med. 2005 Oct;16(6):402-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2005.02.017. PMID: 16198897. Source
- Strom D, Ellinger S, Leschik-Bonnet E, Maretzke F, Heseker H; German Nutrition Society (DGE). Revised Reference Values for Potassium Intake. Ann Nutr Metab. 2017;71(1-2):118-124. doi: 10.1159/000479705. Epub 2017 Aug 11. PMID: 28803230; PMCID: PMC5639605. Source
- Jatoi S, Hafeez A, Riaz SU, Ali A, Ghauri MI, Zehra M. Low Vitamin B12 Levels: An Underestimated Cause Of Minimal Cognitive Impairment And Dementia. cureus. 2020 Feb 13;12(2):e6976. doi: 10.7759/cureus.6976. PMID: 32206454; PMCID: PMC7077099. Source
- Viuda-Martos M, Sanchez-Zapata E, Sayas-Barberá E, Sendra E, Pérez-Álvarez JA, Fernández-López J. Tomato and tomato byproducts. Human health benefits of lycopene and its application to meat products: a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2014;54(8):1032-49. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2011.623799. PMID: 24499120. Source
- DAZ.online; dr Claudia Bruhn: Sun protection "from the inside" - with tomatoes and chocolate? Source
- Raffo A, Leonardi C, Fogliano V, Ambrosino P, Salucci M, Gennaro L, Bugianesi R, Giuffrida F, Quaglia G. Nutritional value of cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Cv. Naomi F1) harvested at different ripening stages. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Oct 23;50(22):6550-6. doi: 10.1021/jf020315t. PMID: 12381148. Source
