How many calories are in a tomato?

It's strange to imagine that once in Russia they did not know about such a wonderful and, most importantly, useful berry as a tomato. Yes, do not be surprised, the usual tomato, which is perceived as a vegetable is actually a berry. But the main question that lovers of this "golden apple" ask themselves is not its botanical identity. It is much more important for them to know how many calories in a tomato?

Especially relevant this issue becomes in the summer, when the abundance of tomatoes on the shelves, coupled with the general desire to lose a couple of kilograms before the trip on vacation, makes you think about replacing the usual side dishes with light salads of tomatoes and greens. Is this substitution desirable, and will it have an effect?

Of course, it will. And although it is difficult to answer the question directly, how many calories in a tomato is difficult - it all depends on the size of the fetus itself, and also whether it was grown in a greenhouse or in the open ground, some average figures of nutritionists are still called.

So, the leader in the competition for caloric content is a greenhouse tomato, the calories in which do not exceed 14 kcal per 100 g. Product. A slightly larger indicator is the average fruit, expressed in open soil - 19-kcal / 100 g. And the highest calorie content of large fleshy fruits is about 23 kcal / 100 g.

Thus, it becomes evident that the tomato is an excellent basis for dietary nutrition. And its versatility in cooking allows you to cook from it any dishes - from light juices to complex soups such as gazpacho. In other words, tomato dishes can easily displace more caloric and harmful food from our daily diet, without harming the taste of the food consumed.

After the question of how many calories in a tomato is solved, the next question arises - how useful is it? And will not the health damage its use in significant amounts, especially if the dishes undergo heat treatment?

In order to find out what a tomato is useful for, it is worth to analyze its composition more closely. In tomatoes contains a significant amount of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The benefits of vitamins are known to everyone from the early nails, but about what the other components of this valuable red berry give us, it's worth talking more.

First of all, a significant amount of magnesium and potassium, contained in tomatoes and dishes cooked from them, make them irreplaceable for people with cardiovascular diseases.

Phytoncides, also part of the fruit, contribute to the fight of the organism with bacteria and inflammations, and serotonin has a beneficial effect on the work of the nervous system.

But the main part of tomatoes is, of course, lycopene. This substance is unique in its properties and is an important component of the prevention of diseases such as cervical cancer in women or prostate cancer in men. Under its influence, the division of cancer cells and all kinds of DNA mutations slow down. Lycopene is also a powerful antioxidant, which allows you to successfully fight free radicals and promote the rejuvenation of the body.

Interestingly, a tomato is one of the few products that, after heat treatment, only becomes more useful. In this case, the concentration of useful lycopene in it increases several times. And for better assimilation of this substance you need to eat a tomato with a small amount of fat. Even during the diet, it is worth adding a little vegetable oil to the salad of tomatoes, because now, knowing how many calories in a tomato, we are sure that it will not damage our figure, but will only accelerate the absorption of useful substances.

But dieticians note that excessive consumption of tomatoes can often overload the body, so the optimal dose for its use is not more than 1 kg per day, or 2 cups of tomato juice.