Sunday, September 14, 2008

Will eating tomatoes give me that pretty rosy cheeks?

Let me make this clear: the rosy cheeks I am referring to is not the one caused by rosacea which is a condition characterized by flushing and redness that it seems facial rashes and a good ground for developing pimples. The rosy cheeks I am talking about is that rosy glow that some women try to achieve by putting make-ups on their cheeks.

There are a number of people asking me what facial soap I use. Perhaps there's something in it that they like because they won't bother asking if they're not intrigued by something that looks good. I'm not boasting ok I know my face is not a cut above the rest. I sometimes have pimples. I have a guess that it is because of the rosy cheeks (I come up with this because one girl from the office asked me if I am using pond's). Well, it's not always rosy you know. But it will always exude everytime the weather is hot. I am not using any special soap or what. But I always have a tomato in my breakfast. And everytime I have it in my breakfast, my face is better than a breakfast without. Tomatoes are known to give good skin but could it be that tomatoes are the ones giving that rosy glow? 



I searched for hours trying to know if this is true. Haven't found any, unfortunately. Tomatoes however have lycopene which is also an antioxidant that helps prevent heart disease and some cancer. Also, according to wikipedia,

Lycopene may be the most powerful carotenoid quencher of singlet oxygen[14], being 100 times more efficient in test tube studies of singlet-oxygen quenching action than vitamin E, which in turn has 125 times the quenching action of glutathione (water soluble)[citation needed]. Singlet oxygen produced during exposure to ultravioletlight is a primary cause of skin aging.[15]

Skin aging again. 

According to lycopene.org,

In the body, lycopene is deposited in the liver, lungs, prostate gland, colon and skin. Its concentration in body tissues tends to be higher than all other carotenoids.

That's why we must be careful that we don't eat tomatoes excessively. Though it is non-toxic, it may cause skin and liver discoloration. Btw, carotenoids are also antioxidants. 

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