Have you had ketchup of late? You may have noticed that the taste of ketchup is a little different from what it used to be. Although, you will only notice if you are an ardent eater of this tangy condiment.
It is really becoming sweeter than normal.
Is ketchup healthy? Does it have a side-effect that you should know?
Well, we have something about ketchup that you should know. It is about the side-effect and benefits of eating ketchup.
If you have had French fries before you will notice that ketchup is like a ‘follow-come’, to it.
In fact, there is often no French fries (potato chips) without ketchup. It is also what some road-side shawarma makers use in their recipe.
Although the recipes for ketchup vary, this tangy condiment consists of tomatoes, salt, sugar and vinegar. This is why it has sweat, yet tangy flavour.
Side Effects Of Eating Ketchup
If you take 1 tablespoon (17 grams) of ketchup you will get
- Calories: 17
- Carbs: 4.5 grams
- Protein: less than 1 grams
- Fiber: less than 1 grams
- Fat: less than 1 grams
- Sugar: 7% of the Daily Value (DV)
- Sodium: 7% of the DV (1.info Source.)
We will look at what taking too much of this condiment could lead to. This will guide your consumption any time you want to take it.
- It contains much salt. Earlier, we pointed out that ketchup contains salt. In fact 1 tablespoon contains 7% of your daily salt value. Most times, people take more than a tablespoon when they take it. If you do, and that means increase in your intake of salt. High salt intake could result in water retention in your body and weight gain.
If you’re sensitive to salt, you should not add ketchup to your diet. This is because eating too much salt may contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health concerns (2, 3, 4,). - It is high in sugar. As seen in the nutritional fact above, a tablespoon of ketchup could contain 7% or more of your DV of sugar.
As a result, if you take as much as 4 to 5 tablespoons of this condiment in a single meal, you would have had 35% or more of the DV for sugar. This will increase your calories level. - Ketchup is an acidic food. Tomato is a highly acidic food and the addition of vinegar further raises the acidic nature of this condiment. It is advisable that persons who suffer heartburn or reflux and other bowel diseases should be mindful of this. It could worsen the condition. There are few studies that show that consumption of tomato could pose some form of negative effects (5, 6, 7).
Health Benefits Of Ketchup
That said, there are amazing benefits of taking ketchup, especially if the makers have other ingredients in it.
Indeed, some makers who want to boost the nutrient you get could add spices.
Few popular spices that have showed up in ketchup are coriander, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. This addition depends on the choice of the maker.
As a result it is rich in nutrients and antioxidants.
A regular ketchup without these spices added is rich in lycopene. This antioxidant protects your DNA and cellular proteins from inflammation (8).
1. Prevents Prostate, Breast, Colon Cancers, Others
As a man ages, there is a likelihood of an enlarged prostate.
Basically, a man’s prostate produces the seminal fluid that nourishes and transports sperm.
However, when it gets bigger it could becomes cancerous and affects the man’s wellbeing.
When this enlargement happens, it could cause difficulty with urination. Sometimes, however, it does not present any symptom.
Some types of prostate cancer grow slowly, and for this reason there is need to monitor the prostate.
In other cases, prostate growth could be aggressive and require radiation, surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy or other treatments.
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Fortunately, there is something you can do, as a man, to lower the risk of prostate enlargement.
One of them is to take tomato juice as often as possible.
Tomato lycopene and this compound gives it its red colour.
According to a study, lycopene contains antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and chemo-preventive properties against cancer (9).
To make the antioxidants effective, you may need to heat the tomato juice a little or make it warm.
A study says lycopene absorption into the human body is more efficient when consumed from heated and lipid-rich dietary sources than raw sources.
It is observed to accumulate in the prostate and has anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities against prostate cancer.[10]
Furthermore, lycopene quenches singlet oxygen, scavenges free radicals, and prevents the oxidative damage of DNA.
When this happens, it prevents potential transformation of normal cells to cancer cells.
Another study says people who ate tomato regularly have a reduced risk of prostate cancer (11).
Also, this lycopene in tomato helps prevent lung, stomach, cervical, breast, oral, colorectal, esophageal, pancreatic, and many other types of cancer.
2. Boost Fertility
When we talk about fertility, it is not only for women. Men also contribute to why conception may be an issue.
Low sperm quality could keep a couple trying and trying for baby. Until the sperm improves, no conception will happen.
Fortunately, tomato juice can help boost a man’s sperm quality.
In a study of 44 patients, researchers found that regular consumption of tomato juice seems to improve sperm motility in infertile patients (12).
Other nutrients in tomato that promote fertility in women are folate, magnesium, potassium and manganese.
Women who are waiting to conceive can add tomato juice to their diet.
For this reason, the juice is great for females and males.
3. Improves Liver Health
The liver is such an important organ in your body and it draws nourishment from the kind of food you eat.
Tomato juice has detoxification effect in the body. This may be due to the presence of chlorine and
sulfur in tomatoes.
A research quoted some studies as saying that 51 mg of chlorine and 11 mg of sulfur in 100 grams size of tomato have a vital role in detoxification process.
According to the study, natural chlorine works in stimulating the liver and also filters and detoxifies body wastes.
“Sulfur in tomatoes protects the liver from cirrhosis, too (13).”
4. Boosts Heart Health
Your heart is another vital organ that needs nourishment.
Lycopene in tomato also helps improve your heart health.
Everyday you eat foods that contain animal fat, butter, cheese, pork, egg, beef, and other fried foods.
Most of these foods contain trans fat that hardens the arteries and make blood flow difficult.
Tomato juice prevents this hardening of arteries and makes blood flow easy.
As a result, people who have high blood pressure could add tomato juice to their diet to clean the arteries of clogs. This lowers the pressure.
Also, tomato juice is a good source of vitamin E. Together with lycopene, it prevents LDL (bad cholesterol) oxidation effectively.
Bad cholesterol has been linked to heart issues.
5. Treats Sunburn
If you want to also get rid of sunburn from your face, you could use tomato too.
You can use tomato powder to make a mask or the raw tomato after you have blended it.
Basically, tomato is a great source of vitamin C which makes it an excellent fruit or vegetable for rapid skin cell replacement.