Breast Cancer and Eating Well: The Tomato Connection

By: Jean Johnson for Body1

It’s easy to love plump, fire engine red tomatoes. Strains in other hues – from yellow to dark magenta - are also making a comeback in the heirloom department. Tomatoes are the fourth most commonly consumed fresh vegetable, and the most frequently consumed canned vegetable in the American diet. On average we each eat 90 pounds of tomatoes each year in one form or another.

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Important Nutrients in Tomatoes In addition to the antioxidant lycopene, tomatoes contain beta-carotene, and are good sources of vitamin C and vitamin D – all of which are thought to prevent cancers and heart disease. Tomatoes are also high in potassium but very low in sodium which means they help combat high blood pressure and fluid retention. Tomatoes, high in potassium and low in sodium, are also good for people with high blood pressure who have fluid retention. One medium tomato supplies 40 percent of the RDA of recommended dietary allowances of vitamin C, as well as 20 percent of the vitamin A we need daily.

So it doesn’t take much for us to call the dazzling tomato back out to center stage for a second bow, its ripe firm flesh shining magnificently under the bright lights. Toward that end, we’ve enlisted the help of Garrett Berdan, Chef, RD, of Portland, Oregon. With his registered dietitian’s degree and certification from the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California, Berdan is a perfect guide to the world of tomatoes and health. First, though, we’ll look at links between tomatoes, lycopene, and various cancers including breast cancer.

This triad has been in the news for several years now. The press and all manner of enterprising marketers brought the relationship to the public’s attention after Edward Giovannucci, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, studied a small group of men with high risk for prostate cancer in the late 1990s. Giovannucci found that diets high in three antioxidants – lycopene, selenium, and Vitamin E – reduced the patients’ chances of contracting the disease.

A Caveat on Links between Certain Foods and Health

After Giovannucci published his results in a 1999 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, it didn’t take long for the H.J. Heinz Company and American Longevity, a California nutritional supplement firm that wanted to label its lycopene capsules as cancer fighters, to climb on the bandwagon.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, was not as enthusiastic. According to a 2005 story in The Boston Globe, although the FDA had approved a petition by Quaker Oats to put a heart healthy label on its products in 1996 – as well as a number of other approvals like the benefits of olive oil and how low-sodium products can help reduce blood pressure – the agency was less confident about connections between tomatoes and cancer.

As Giovannucci told the Florida Fresh Tomato Committee, “the antioxidant properties of lycopene, a carotenoid found primarily in tomatoes, have raised interest in tomato as a food with potential anticancer properties.” He added, however, in a similar discussion with The Boston Globe that, “I strongly support research in trying to see whether it’s lycopene alone, but I think it’s a premature claim. “It’s probably lycopene working together with other factors,” Giovannucci concluded. “So I don’t think it’s accurate to think of lycopene as the single dominant factor.”

In so many words, then, Giovannucci implied that particular properties of food, and nature’s cornucopia of foods themselves, are most likely akin to an ecosystem. They function together as a whole. Thus, trying to pry them apart and isolate magic bullets that will protect against cancer, for example, is problematic. That said, the Harvard professor did think that tomatoes were important enough to study, and while data is strongest for cancers of the prostate gland, lung and stomach, statistics also extended to breast, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, and oral and cervical cancers.

Lycopene: Links and Action

As usual, the Mayo Clinic can be counted on to offer prudent advice for those who want to protect their health by eating wisely. Their literature explains that although “lycopene has been found to possess antioxidant and antiproliferative [keeping cancer cells from proliferating] properties in animal and in vitro studies, activity in human health remains controversial.

“Numerous epidemiological investigations have correlated high intake of lycopene-containing foods or high lycopene serum levels with reduced incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration,” states the Mayo Clinic. “However, estimates of lycopene consumption have been based on reported tomato intake, not on the use of lycopene supplements.”

The Mayo Clinic also reiterated that tomatoes might have properties other than lycopene that could be at work in protecting patients from cancer. “Since tomatoes are sources of other nutrients including vitamin C, folate, and potassium, it is not clear that lycopene itself is beneficial.”

For those that need a quick reminder of why we should care about antioxidants, we turned to our resident dietitian and chef, Berdan. “Lycopene is a wonderful antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color,” he said. “Antioxidants come from many different foods, and their role is basically to destroy free radicals that damage the cells and in turn create a pathway for things like cancer cells and heart disease.

“The trick with lycopene is that it’s more abundant if it’s cooked. Also you want to help your body absorb it by consuming a healthy fat source,” he added. Bring on the Recipes

As a result of the literature and Giovannucci’s comments, it seems clear that eating a healthy amount of tomatoes isn’t going to hurt us. That they might help is all the more reason to tie on the apron and head off to the cutting board.

Not to worry, though, Berdan knows how busy we all are. So don’t expect anything akin to a convoluted chemistry experiment. Rather, he says that he has some simple tricks under his chef’s hat that will help all of us enjoy our tomatoes even as we keep an eye on our health.

“Tomatoes are pretty easy because they are such a powerhouse food. A really easy thing to do with cooked tomatoes, especially in the winter, is to just take whole canned tomatoes and cook them into your own sauce. All it takes is some extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and I like to use about four anchovies and let them melt into the oil. Then add the tomatoes, a bay leaf, some red pepper flakes, and cracked pepper.

“By combining a healthy fat and a cooked tomato product, you’re increasing the amount of lycopene available for absorption. And making your own tomato sauce is so easy to do.”

We’re convinced, although we noticed that Berdan didn’t even bother to chop an onion.

“Oh, well,” he said, with a chuckle. “I was doing a basic sauce. You can put onion in if you like, but it’s not really necessary.”

Since the end of harvest season is upon us, we also asked Berdan for ideas on preparing fresh tomatoes. “For fresh tomatoes, what’s good is to make a quick panzanella salad.

“Take some good fresh tomatoes and dice them into bite-size pieces. Toss them with some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, clove of minced garlic, and basil chiffonade.”

[Chiffonade, if you need a reminder, is most anything cut into long thin strips, so the idea is to take the basil and slice it rather than chop it. You can easily do this by making a stack out of your leaves and then rolling them into a tight little cigar. From here it’s short work with a sharp French butcher knife, and there you have it: a fluffy pile of basil that looks like ultra-thin green ribbons.]

“Then take a part of a loaf of whole grain bakery bread; as far as amounts, think in terms of two parts tomatoes and one part bread. Cut the bread into one-inch slices and then dice the slices into one inch pieces. If you plan to eat the salad right away, just add the croutons to the tomatoes and serve. If you won’t be eating until later or the following day, toast the bread in the oven first.”

We tried Berdan’s panzanella as well as the tomato sauce and found them a snap to put together, beautiful on the table, and food that the fans adored. Also, we liked the double benefit of knowing that despite continuing questions about links between tomatoes and cancer, we were giving those in our kitchens the very best we could.

Indeed, we were so impressed with the tomato sauce and panzanella that we’ve asked Berdan to return with ideas on how to prepare other vegetables thought to have health benefits. So keep an eye on our other sites at Fibroids1, Heart1, and beyond for more tips on how to make eating well easy, fun and tasty.

Last updated: 12-Oct-06