Good News for Heart Patients

        The average age in which a person may suffer from heart disease has come down from 40 years to 30years now a day. Dr Ashok Seth, Chief Invasive and Interventional Cardiology, Escorts Heart Institute said that modern life style had proven to be the stimulus for the growth of heart diseases among the youth. Moreover improper food habits, lack of physical activity coupled with high level of stress and increase in smoking and alcohol consumption can also lead to coronary heart diseases.

        Diet plays a crucial role in correcting raised blood fat levels, as well as combating obesity, hypertension, high blood-sugar levels, diabetes and raised homocysteine levels. Tomato is rich in nutritional elements: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K and vitamin PP, as well as phosphor, iron, calcium, boron, potassium, manganese, magnesium, iodine, copper, zinc, sodium, sulfur, citric acid, malic acid, sugar, biotin, niacin, folic acid and provitamin A. The nicotinic acid form of niacin present in tomato lowers cholesterol. Nicotinic acid decreases the production of triglycerides and VLDL(very low density lipoprotein which is converted to LDL in the blood).This results in the decreased production of LDL (bad cholesterol) & triglycerides, and also leads to increased production of HDL(good cholesterol). Nicotinic acid is effective in lowering LDL cholesterol by10 to 20 percent and triglycerides by20 to 50 percent. It also raises the good cholesterol, the High Density Lipoprotein level by 15to35 percent. Many research works are being carried out to genetically modify tomatoes by adding the gene of a petunia, a herbaceous plant of tropical America and belonging to the Solanaceae, in order to enrich the fruit of flavonoids, beneficial substances which are necessary for the proper functioning of the heart and for the prevention of cancer.

       An apple a day keeps the doctor away like that a tomato a day keeps us free from heart problems. So try to include tomatoes in your diet as possible as you can even though some of you don’t like it. Fresh tomatoes can be kept in the refrigerator for three to four days; however they can also be frozen - minced or kept in the form of sauce in refrigerators up to nine months. It is better to remove seeds and to peel them by submerging for thirty seconds in boiling water before using it.