Cinnamon Zone: TO-MA-TO

There's been a big fuss about raising vegetable prices in Jordan, it's getting crazy... Anyways, my mother was talking about that man on TV who said: "I'm an engineer, and I can no longer afford gallayet bandora" (a popular meal prepared with tomatoes). Well, don't panic you engineers out there, I'm pretty much sure that man meant: "I'm an engineer, I make a lot of money, still I can't afford gallayet bandora anymore" hmm, plausible!

Seriously, not tomato! You know it's the one thing that can be eaten with everything... it's legendary! I once heard that during some civil war, or one of those many crappy wars that we lost count of, they used to destinguish Palestinians by holding a piece of tomato and asking them what it was. If you say "banadoora" you're lebanese/syrian/whatever, if you say "bandora" you're dead! I wonder, if they were encountered by a morrocan guy, what will they make out of "mateeshah" gbiggrin

So, we can talk about the history of tomato-es till the cows get home, so let's get sort of scientific... I did soem search on the health benefits of tomatoes, and here's some of what I found:

Tomatoes are good for the eyes. Lycopene, the most abundant carotenoid in the blood serum, was found to be the key antioxidant that guards against ARMD ( Age-Related Macular Degeneration), a condition that may cause blindness.

Tomatoes are high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Potassium

Eating tomatoes, ketchup, tomato sauce and tomato paste-topped pizza more than two times a week can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 21 to 43 percent according to Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard University School of Public Health.

"The only nutrient that turned out to have significant preventative value (against prostate cancer) was lycopene," writes Dr. Giovannucci who also found that lycopene was most efficiently absorbed into the body when accompanied by dietary fats (limpids).

"Cooking tomatoes in oil encourages intestinal absorption and results in a two-to-threefold rise in plasma lycopene concentrations," said Dr. Giovannucci. "Tomato sauce is one of the best lycopene sources."

Men who eat two or more servings of tomato products average a 35 percent reduction in prostate cancer risk.

Tomato products are beneficial in aggressive cancers that have also spread to other parts of the body.

The best food sources of lycopene according to the Tomato Research Council in New York City: ( Amount of lycopene in one ounce) Tomato Sauce, Spaghetti Sauce, Ketchup (5 mg); Tomato Soup, Canned Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Vegetable Juice (3 mg); Minestrone Soup, Vegetable Soup, Pink Grapefruit (1 mg)

Lycopene helps women guard against cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia, (CIN), tumorous tissue growth in the cervix according to research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Lycopene is a powerful inhibitor of the growth of breast, endometrium (inner lining of the uterus) and lung cancer cells.

Lypocene is an inhibitor to heart disease.