Saw a brief report in today's Telegraph that scientists have said that the serotonin in cooked red tomatoes is probably a protective agent against prostate cancer. Does anybody know whether the serotonin in yellow tomatoes acts in a similar way? I'm wondering whether the colour of the fruit makes any difference or whether it's the actual chemical that does the trick? Would red tomatoes contain more of this chemical than yellow ones?

I always thought the red were healthier but then after reading your question I found this ..... very interesting
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... ce&dbid=44

Thanks. That's a very interesting article. It's nice to have a food that tastes good and actually does you good. Often all the nicest tasting foods ae a big 'No No' when it comes to your health!

That is interesting Tigger. I looked up who had produced the information and it says it is a not for profit organisation, as reading the article I had a little voice telling me it sounded as though it was funded by the American tomato producers.

The information is very good, and I'm going to get some of the sieved tomatoes out of my freezer as a base for tonight's meal. (I noticed that it said to incorporate the seeds and skin for extra nutrition, but it is too late now)

I wonder how many of the thousands of varieties of tomatoes they tested to come down to just four to recommend in the article - or if they were actually funded by the producer of these ones.

Also, in a lot of articles about the health benefits of certain foods, they don't say that the water soluble vitamins, particularly vitamin C is completely destroyed by being boiled in water for ten minutes or more, or standing in water or sunlight for any length of time. So you need to eat these foods both raw and cooked to get the most benefit from them.

Its the oppersite with tomatoes the more you boil the better they are for you

My point was that different ways of cooking or not cooking fruit and vegetables affects which nutrients are preserved, destroyed, or made more available. If you want to eat tomatoes for their vitamin C then you eat them raw, but if you want to increase the benefits of the lycopene etc, that becomes more available by cooking them. The same applies to other veg.

If you investigate further, I think you'll find you need to eat them by the barrow load! One of the best forms of eating cooked toms is ketchup.

Isn't it nice when you find you have done something right!! -accidentally. I had a glut of tomatoes and made them into tomato sauce/ketchup and have a cupboard full of jars which I have been using in all my cooking this winter.

I've just been reading the March KG magazine and the article on The Raw food Revolution touches on quite a few things we've mentioned regarding some nutrients being made more available by cooking and others being destroyed.

I don't think I could stomach quite so much raw food, mainly because of the texture. Also, there are some raw food fanatics who say it can cure cancers and all sorts of things. I remember quite a few years ago a mother and daughter wrote a book, "Raw Energy, Eat your way to Radiant Health", about their raw food diet, and the mother went on subsequently to develop cancer, so while eating raw foods is probably good for our health in general, it certainly shouldn't be put forward as a miracle cure.