The virtues of the tomato, a healthy vegetable

The evolution and growth of the humble tomato as an essential ingredient of our daily diet across the world is a fascinating story. Yolanda Evans writes in the June 5, 2025, issue of National Geographic magazine about the rise in tomatoes with myth and folklore and how tomatoes weren’t always a beloved ingredient.

Once deemed sinful, stinky, and “poison apples”, they were linked to superstition and illness, in part due to their reaction with lead in copper-based dinnerware. The use of a more appropriate vessel by farmers from Salem, New Jersey, to cook tomatoes shifted public opinion in the US.

Tomatoes were not native to India but brought to us by the Portuguese traders in the 15th century. They were then adopted by the British colonisers in the 16th century who started growing them across the country and added them to their menu. But the people were still wary of it. As the independent journalist Ms. Sohel Sarkar has written, in 1938 the physician Dr Tara Chitale and her colleagues tried to convince people about the benefits of  using tomatoes to cure common cold, scurvy, and iron deficiency, but the response was lukewarm.

The change finally transpired when more and more inputs came from travellers who recommended tomatoes in our diet, and experts from the National Institute of Nutrition in India pointed out the importance of vitamins and minerals in our daily diet and how tomatoes are rich in them.

Health benefits

Plant biologists classify tomato as a fruit. The benefits that tomatoes offer to our daily health have been described among others by the dietitian and public health specialist Ms. Cynthia Saas of California. Let us highlight some of these. Tomatoes are rich sources of antioxidants that offer health benefits for the heart and brain. They have nutrients that reduce the risk factor for heart disease significantly. Increased tomato intake decreases high blood pressure, a noteworthy point for senior citizens. The cellulose fibre content in tomatoes helps to prevent constipation. The red carotenoid pigment called lycopene in tomatoes might help protect people above 70 years of age from Alzheimer’s disease. Ms. Saas has warned that before cooking tomatoes, one must ensure they are thoroughly washed and free of any dust-borne germs.

Tomatoes are grown in farmlands all over India, numbering between 5,000 and 10,000 plants per acre. According to one estimate from the Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, India produced 210 lakh tonnes in the year 2022-2023, second only to China (680 lakh tonnes). The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, has been researching a variety of tomato plants. One, called ‘Arka Rakshak’, is a disease-resistant hybrid while another, ‘Arka Shreshta’, has a long shelf-life, making it easier to transport.

The top seven tomato cultivating States are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu. The average whole-sale price is estimated to be about Rs 1,700 per quintal.

Today, just about every house in the country uses tomatoes in their daily diet. A typical Indian dish these days invariably has some tomatoes in it, be it as a soup, added to a vegetable curry, chutney, added to rice or wheat as a ‘rasam’, and as ketchup for sandwiches and pizzas.

Having tasted the tomato and learnt that it is not sinful but in fact has several health benefits, let us enjoy this vegetable.