Tomatoes are the most common vegetable in everyday life and are a versatile ingredient, such as beef brisket stew with tomatoes, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and egg soup with tomatoes. They are rich in vitamins and antioxidants, and also contain a lot of dietary fibre and minerals, which bring numerous benefits to the body when eaten in moderation.

I don't know when it became necessary for people to add some tomato sauce when making scrambled eggs with tomatoes. "Tomatoes really don't have a 'tomato taste' anymore, and it's hard to fry them with sand, sweet or sour, and it's even harder to make soup." The matter of tomatoes becoming less and less tasty resonates with many people. "Very hard, no juice, not sweet ......", everyone coincidentally used similar words to describe it, comparing with the memory of the previous taste of tomatoes, and then the distress was even greater: even the tomatoes are not the same.

It stands to reason that human intervention in breeding selection should have led to a trend towards both good-looking and tasty tomatoes, but after all these years, tomatoes are instead being pointed out as not tasting as good as they used to. The logic of tomato evolution is a little hard to understand.

According to Shi Jun, a PhD in botany and science writer, "Human taste and the market are a process of mutual domestication," said the source. As tomatoes move towards the mass market, growers are looking more at appearance, transport and storage capacity, with flavour taking a back seat. In the long run, the tomatoes that appear on consumers' tables have become the type that are touted as "good to look at but not good to eat".

What are the benefits of eating tomatoes?

1. Enhances grip strength

The greater the grip strength, the stronger the muscle strength of the whole body can be assessed through grip strength. Studies have shown that eating tomatoes can slow down the rate of aging, increase grip strength, maintain whole-body muscle strength and improve muscle mass. This is mainly due to the lycopene in tomatoes, which is a strong antioxidant that removes free radicals and protects muscle strength.

2. Protects blood vessels

Lycopene in tomatoes lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, maintaining cardiovascular health and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

3. Enhance resistance

In addition to lycopene, tomatoes also contain polyphenols and tocopherols, which can lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels and prevent many skin diseases, as well as strengthening resistance.

Tips

Although tomatoes offer many benefits, they should be eaten in controlled amounts of around 150g a day. Tomatoes should not be eaten by people with migraines, abdominal and stomach pain, kidney dysfunction, allergies to tomatoes, irritable bowel syndrome, heartburn and gastro-oesophageal reflux.