Eat your Tomatoes

Why you should eat your Tomatoes and not apply on your skin:

As a Cosmetics Engineer, I love to check out trending cosmetics ingredients, especially ingredients touted by DIY enthusiasts and one ingredient that got me excited was ‘Tomatoes’, considering all the said skin benefits and the abundance of tomatoes in this part of the world, I was eager to add it to all my products, including body creams. I could already see my bright red body cream trending around the world and how it’s going to revolutionize African Skincare, I even saw myself giving talks on how effective this wonderful ingredient is, in giving my customers a healthy, glowing and beautiful skin tone, but, I also had my doubts and silently wondered why tomato is not already a super star ingredient in the cosmetics world. So, I embarked on a journey of adding tomatoes (in different forms) to my formulations. Of course, I started with my favorite, African Black Soap, I added raw Tomatoes to my black soap and pounded away, in fact, I couldn’t wait for night time to shower, as I rushed to the shower with my precious tomato based black soap, immediately I got home that day, I applied the soap to my skin, massaged gently and waited for about 5 minutes for my skin to absorb the nutrients and then washed off. I continued this practice for 4 weeks, hoping to see some magical transformations on my skin, I don’t know what I was expecting, but, I didn’t get the magic, I was a little disappointed, but I moved on to infuse sun dried tomato in a carrier oil, maybe, it would work, since it’s a leave-on product, nothing still, I couldn’t see the brightening effect on my skin, in fact, my skin missed its usual nourishing creams and oils, then I decided to add to cream, believing it was a Ph issue, since Tomatoes are a little bit acidic, I added to a cream base and adjusted the Ph accordingly, but unfortunately, no significant magic happened.

But, I felt, there must be a reason why tomatoes are touted to be very good anti-oxidants and I needed to get to the bottom of this, ( It broke my heart though, that I had to drop my ‘Tomato skincare line dream’), but, the research continued, I later found out that tomatoes contain lycopene which is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits, including sun protection, improved heart health and several others, but, if you truly want to enjoy the benefits of this lycopene in Tomatoes, then you are better off Eating the tomatoes, than applying topically.

Research reports have shown that the beneficial effects of Lycopene is stronger when consumed as food than in supplements or skincare products, it has also been confirmed that heating tomatoes significantly increases the lycopene and according to British Journal of nutrition, people who eat mostly uncooked tomatoes are mostly deficient in Lycopene, also, lycopene is fat soluble, meaning you need fat in your diet for your body to absorb it properly (good news for those of us who enjoy delicious red stew or tomato sauce with pasta or rice), and going by a study of more than 35,000 women which was conducted by doctors at Boston’s Brigham and women’s hospital consuming tomatoes might lower the risk of cardio vascular disease by 30%.

Regular consumption of tomatoes also helps fight free radicals in the body. In fact, tomatoes have the highest amounts of lycopene and high levels of lycopene is effective as a powerful anti-oxidant which is not only good for the skin health but also for the overall health of the body. Here are other confirmed benefits of eating tomatoes

1.       Tomatoes contain Lycopene and research shows lycopene has good anti-cancer effects (especially prostate cancer)

2.       Eating tomatoes may give some protection against UV light induced sunburn (this is good news for us in this part of the world as the sun here is unparalleled)

3.       Tomatoes contain lots of potassium which helps to prevent dry skin and certain types of eczema

4.       Research also shows that anti-oxidant properties of lycopene can help balance the levels of free radicals in the body and may help reduce signs of ageing and hyperpigmentation

In short, just remember to always serve yourself a large dose of red stew or tomato sauce, the next time you are eating swallow, rice or pasta, as you would be doing yourself a world of good. But, those prone to heart burn should watch it, as too much of tomato sauce might aggravate the heart burn.

Oh, forgot to add that, DIYers were right in a way, as tomato powder is a great ingredient to add to your face mask, as it helps to brighten your face, due to its exfoliating properties.

Till next time, this is T.A Arije

T.A is a Chemical Engineer with specialization in Cosmetics Science, she is the Founder and Chief formulator at Exoticbella Skincare. Exoticbella Skincare is a proudly Nigerian skincare products company in Lagos. Exoticbella Skincare creates safe and effective skincare products that nourish, protect and generally deliver healthy glowing Complexion using natural, safe & science backed ingredients . Kindly visit our store on the website and start your journey to a Radiant, Healthy, Glowing and Ageless Complexion

Tags: Tomatoes for healthy skin