You probably know that tomatoes are rich in antioxidants, but now new research is showing these red wonders may have some serious cancer-fighting benefits.
In a study done at the Ohio State University, “daily tomato consumption by mice appeared to cut the development on skin cancer tumors in half,” according to ScienceDaily, with the full account appearing in the online journal Scientific Reports.
During the testing, male mice were “fed a diet of 10 percent tomato powder daily for 35 weeks, then exposed to ultraviolet light.” On average, the mice that ate the tomato diet experienced “a 50-percent decrease in skin cancer tumors compared to mice that ate no dehydrated tomato.”
However, the female mice showed no significant tumor reduction.
“This study showed us that we do need to consider sex when exploring different preventive strategies,” said the study’s senior author, Tatiana Oberyszyn, a professor of pathology and member of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. “What works in men may not always work equally well in women and vice versa.”
