Sunbathers, Don’t Forget to Eat Your Tomatoes

Scientists have drawn an unusual link between tomatoes and skin cancer. Through experimentations with mice, researchers at Ohio State University found that tomatoes effectively diminish skin cancer tumors. Their findings were recently published in Nature.

Keratinocyte carcinomas (KCs, or sometimes called nonmelanoma skin cancers) are more prevalent than breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancers combined. Previous studies have determined that eating tomato paste can alleviate sunburn. The objective of the study was to determine if tomato consumption would change skin and plasma metabolomes. Scientists hypothesize that carotenoid pigments act as a photoprotectant and keep the skin safe from UV damage. Lycopene is the primary carotenoid in tomatoes and is proven to be effective in preventing sunburn, although other phytochemicals might also play a part in inhibiting redness.

Every day for 35 weeks, researchers fed mice 10 percent tomato powder, and then subsequently exposed them to ultraviolet light three times a week. The tomatoes were harvested locally in Ohio and were converted into powder-filled pellets. However, there was a drastic difference between the way female and male mice responded to the tomato. The researchers found that only the male mice that consumed the tomatoes had fewer tumors than the males who stuck to a non-tomato based diet. The male mice had thicker skin and weighed more than the females, and only male mice experienced tumor reductions.

“In this study, the dose of tomato given to the mice was chosen to be sufficient to produce plasma lycopene levels that are consistent with humans consuming a diet rich in lycopene containing foods,” write the researchers.