Tomato sauce, health elixir - Corriere della Sera

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Tomato sauce,
health elixir that reduces the risk of diseases

The mix of ingredients of tomato sauce is a concentration of polyphenols that reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer

is an ideal combination of taste and health. The tomato sauce was just ‘crowned’ Prince of healthy diet by a Spanish research published in the journal Food Chemistry because, in addition to being good, is chock full of healthy nutrients: well 40 different types of polyphenols that help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and a number of carotenoid protective against cancer.

STUDIO – The data comes from a study by the University of Barcelona for which the researchers carefully analyzed ten kinds of sauce for sale on supermarket shelves: all products were determined by mass spectrometry, a test that measures the presence of small amounts of different chemical compounds, allowing them to be identified unequivocally. In this way it is seen that in all studied sauces, with minor differences, there are forty of polyphenols, carotenoids such as lycopene, vitamin C. “With 120 grams of sauce added to the dough are introduced from 16 to 4 milligrams of polyphenols per serving and from 6 to 10 milligrams of carotenoids – says Rosa Maria Lamuela, coordinator of the research -. These compounds are very useful and their consumption is related to the reduction of cancer and cardiovascular disease, as demonstrated by the study PREDIMED (Prevention with a Diet MEDiterranean) in which they evaluated the frequency of use of tomato sauce associated with the risk of disease in the heart and blood vessels, but did not “measure” exactly what, in the food, is responsible for the protective effect. Our research has therefore identified the substances responsible for the beneficial action of the sauce. “

SAUCE – The product mentioned by the Spaniards calling it “fried” is essentially the classic sauce made with onion, garlic, oil and tomato (not then what we call it fried, that is the base of onion, celery and carrot chopped used for countless dishes). Even the homemade gravy has the same properties, according to Dr. Lamuela: “We are also trying to figure out what the ideal proportion between the different ingredients and we first observed that the olive oil is better than that of sunflower is richer in polyphenols and has antioxidant properties further, so we think that an amount equal to 10 percent of the total of the sauce is adequate – explains researcher -. In addition, we also verified that the benefits of the juice are greater than those resulting from the consumption of its individual ingredients: it seems to be a synergistic effect between them and together make a greater amount of polyphenols than when they are eaten separately. The tomato is the richest food source of these substances, in fact, but also onion and garlic make it into discrete amount by which the “cocktail” end it abounds. With significant benefits in terms of prevention of cardiovascular disease and even cancer. “

Elena Meli