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Tomato juice health benefits

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Tomato juice could be better than energy drinks at helping the body recover from exercise, new research suggests.

Experts experts say tomatoes provide vital chemicals to help muscles recover and blood levels return to normal after being stretched and strained.

Experts from a number of health institutions in Greece conducted tests on 15 athletes over a period of two months, looking at vital signs before, during and after exercise.

Nine of the athletes drank tomato juice after exercise and six consumed their regular fizzy energy drink.

Those drinking tomato juice had quicker levels of muscle recovery and their glucose levels returned to normal faster after strenuous exercise.

Tomatoes contain a compound called lycopene, which principally give them their deep-red colour.

Anti-oxidants in tomatoes are already known to combat cancer, heart disease and other ailments, which is why some people adopting a Mediterranean diet appear to live longer.

In the latest study, harmful levels of enzymes and proteins which contribute to muscle and brain damage returned to normal quicker in those athletes who drank tomato juice after exercise.

The researchers said tomato juice was so effective that people with higher levels of harmful proteins could benefit in just two months.

tomato_juice

The study, led by researchers at the General Chemical State Laboratory of Greece, was published in journal Food and Chemical Toxicology.


The findings back up previous Swedish research which found that tomato juice helped to reduce oxidative damage after exercise.

Researchers in Stockholm asked a group of healthy volunteers to exercise at 80 per cent of their maximum heart rate for 20 minutes.

After the exercise session, they tested their blood for a compound called 8-oxodG, a chemical that’s a marker for oxidative damage.

This occurs as a result of chemical reactions in the body which release harmful oxygen-rich molecules that attack tissue and cause permanent damage – and is implicated as a cause of many illnesses

The researchers found that volunteers who sipped tomato juice after exercise for five weeks did experience so much oxidative damage.

Chia seeds health benefits

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Chia seeds, which are dietary staples of the Maya and Aztecs, are catching on in America due to their omega-3 fatty acids and fibre content.

Chia seeds have become popular for their omega-3 fatty acids and fibre content. With their neutral taste, they can be consumed in many ways — now they’re even showing up in processed foods such as chips and spreads.

Eaten by the Maya and Aztec people, chia seeds have long been reputed to be nutritional powerhouses.

“They were basics when we grew up,” LA Times quoted Ramiro Arvizu, a chef at La Casita Mexicana in Bell, as saying.

“Now it’s becoming a fashion, and I love it,” Arvizu said.

His restaurant has served lemonade with chia seeds for more than a decade, says Arvizu, whose grandmother made him a similar drink in his childhood. The seeds become gelatinous when soaked in liquid, sort of like tapioca.

In 2009, a book by Christopher McDougall called ‘Born to Run’ focused on the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico — long-distance runners who consume chia in food and drinks.

Chia seeds

Chia seeds

The seeds remain popular among runners. Last week, Business Week magazine reported that “among Wall Street’s trading desks and bullpens, chia seeds are becoming the stimulant of choice.”

They are, the magazine said, “healthier than coffee, cheaper (and obviously more legal) than cocaine, and less juvenile than a 5-hour Energy drink.”


“More and more, people in this iPad, junk food way of living … are looking for some way to live healthier and create some balance and relying on foods” that cultures ate thousands of years ago, says John Roulac, founder of Nutiva, a company based in Oxnard that sells chia products.

Demand has grown fivefold this year.

A tablespoon of the seeds has 60 calories, 5 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of fat. Online, they’re about 10 dollars a pound.

David Nieman of Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., who has conducted several studies of chia seeds, in part funded by Dole Food Co., says chia seeds are not the magic that will keep people Olympian strong and model slender while they live like couch potatoes.

Exercise and a good diet still are key. Nevertheless, he says, “chia is a lot of nutrition in a little package”.