Dave’s Dietary Diary: Tomatoes Can Prevent Depression

 I love a fresh, ripe cold tomato…sliced with a little salt and pepper.  Not one of those little cherry imposters but the big red beefsteak kind. Which then begs the question -- Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?  Better still, is a tomato a cure for depression?  A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders finds a link between eating tomatoes and lowered risk of depression. Ok, maybe not a cure but a lowered risk is definitely good.  If I don’t get depressed in the first place I won’t need a cure!

 In fact the lowly tomato is proving to have a number of suspected health benefits.  For this study a team of researchers from China and Japan analyzed the eating habits of about one-thousand people age 70 or older and discovered that those who ate tomatoes two-to-six-times-per-week were 46-percent less likely to suffer from depression than those who ate tomatoes less often.  This is also a case where more is more because people who ate tomatoes every day were found to cut their risk of depression by 52-percent.

 Researchers say that the antioxidant lycopene that is found in tomatoes might play a role in the lowered risk for depression. No other vegetables were found to have the same effect as tomatoes. (Daily Mail)   PS  It's a fruit!

In fact the lowly tomato is proving to have a number of suspected health benefits.  For this study a team of researchers from China and Japan analyzed the eating habits of about one-thousand people age 70 or older and discovered that those who ate tomatoes two-to-six-times-per-week were 46-percent less likely to suffer from depression than those who ate tomatoes less often.  This is also a case where more is more because people who ate tomatoes every day were found to cut their risk of depression by 52-percent.

Researchers say that the antioxidant lycopene that is found in tomatoes might play a role in the lowered risk for depression. No other vegetables were found to have the same effect as tomatoes. (Daily Mail)