If you are someone who enjoys the occasional pasta with freshly made tomato sauce, then here's a reason to continue relishing the dish. According to a new research, cooked tomato sauce has a better probiotic effect in the gut rather than when eaten raw.
Researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain found that cooked tomato sauce boosts the levels of healthy bacteria in the gut. They also found that the cooking process helps preserve the antioxidant lycopene, which gives tomatoes their red colour. This means more lycopene survives the digestive process and is absorbed by the body.
Researcher Ana Belén Heredia said: "We worked with raw and fried tomato to determine the impact of processing. And among the results, we found that serving meals rich in probiotics with fried tomato sauce boosts its probiotic effect."
Tomatoes are healthy and previous research has claimed that eating them can slow stomach cancer and even reduce men's risk of developing prostate cancer.
Men who consume more than 10 portions of tomatoes each week reduce their risk by about 20 per cent, according to a team of researchers from the School of Social and Community Medicine at Bristol University.
Here are some other benefits of including tomatoes in your diet.
