健康飲食：青春常駐的祕密

The secret of eternal youth
While tomato has long been credited with cutting cholesterol and preventing some cancers, the fruit now appears to have two more health-giving benefits.
Protection against sunburn and helping keep the skin looking youthful are the latest fingdings, a study has found. To test the fruit's ability to protect the skin, ten volunteers were asked to eat five tablespoons of tomato paste mixed with olive oil every day for three months. Another ten had a daily dose of olive oil—minus the tomato paste. Tests showed the tomato-eaters were a third better protected against sunburn at the end of the study than at the start. Other tests suggested the tomato-based diet had boosted production of collagen, the protein that keeps skin soft.
If that were not enough, the fruit also protects our mitochondria—the elements of cells which turn the food we eat into energy. A researcher said: "Being kind to our mitochondria is likely to contribute to improved skin health, which in turn may have an anti-ageing effect."
Tomoto’s benefits are credited to lycopene, a powerful antioxidant capable of eliminate free radicals—the harmful molecules linked to cancer—is made easier for the body to absorb when tomatoes are cooked or processed.
The researchers stressed, however, that their findings were not an excuse to throw away the suncream. People should not think tomatoes in any way can replace suncreams, but they may be a good additive.
Scientists recommend two tomato-based meals a day for optimum health.

青春常駐的奧祕
長期以來，番茄一直被認爲有降低膽固醇和預防某些癌症的作用，現在它似乎又多了兩項健身功效。
一項最新研究發現，番茄還具有防止烈日曬傷以及保持皮膚省略的功能。爲了測試番茄的護膚功效，研究人員讓十名志願者每天食用五湯匙拌有橄欖油的番茄醬。測試結果表明，食用番茄者的防曬能力在試驗結束時比開始時增強了三分之一。其他測試則顯示，以番茄爲基礎的飲食促進了膠原蛋白的生長。膠原蛋白是一種保持皮膚柔嫩的蛋白質。
如果這還不夠說明問題的話，番茄還有保護人體內線粒體的功效。線粒體是一種將我們攝入的食物轉化爲能量的細胞成分。一位研究人員說：“善待我們的線粒體會有助於增進皮膚健康，從而可能產生抗衰老效果”。
番茄的好處應歸功於番茄紅素，它是一種強大的抗氧化劑，能夠清除與癌症相關的有害分子自由基。烹飪或加工過的番茄，其番茄紅素更容易被人體吸收。
但是研究人員也強調說，他們的發現並不是要人們丟棄防曬霜。人們不能以爲番茄可以完全取代防曬霜，但是它們或許能夠起到很好的補充作用。
爲了達到最佳健康狀態，科學家建議人們每天的兩餐中都應有番茄。