Did you know that there are more than 20,000 known varieties of tomatoes in the world?

Tomatoes are incredibly versatile—they can be used in salads and sandwiches, they’re the base of ketchup, barbecue sauce, and other popular condiments, and they add both a sweet and savoury flavour to soups, stews, gravies, and sauces.

Southern Italian cuisine wouldn’t be the same without them, and classics like spaghetti & meatballs and even pizza might have never been created if not for tomatoes!

Apart from all their culinary uses there are significant health benefits in tomatoes.

One medium red tomato contains approximately 22 calories, one gram of protein, 0.25 grams of fat, 4.78 grams of carbs, 1.5 grams of fibre, and 3.23 grams of sugar. It also contains significant sources of vitamin A around 20% of the recommended daily allowance and around 28% of the daily recommended vitamin C allowance.

Because Tomatoes contain lots of vitamin A this can really be a benefit for your hair, eyes, and heart. This is because two other carotenoids found in tomatoes are beta-carotene and alpha-carotene. The body converts these carotenoids into vitamin A, which is what promotes healthy vision, skin, and hair.

And although experts still aren’t sure exactly how vitamin A effects the heart, a recent study found that the heart does positively respond to the amount of vitamin A stored in the body.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160428174010.htm

Tomatoes are very easy to add to your eating plan because there are so many ways you can serve them!