Summer‘s over and I‘m going to miss all the locally grown tomatoes I enjoyed on my salads. Not only were the tomatoes this season tasty, they also provided me with much-needed lycopene, a nutrient found in brightly-colored fruits and vegetables that‘s known to help protect against cancer, diabetes, and even male infertility.
It‘s also good for your arteries. In fact, according to a new study published in the journal Artherosclerosis, high blood levels of lycopene were linked to lower cholesterol and C-reactive protein, two markers used to assess heart health. The study was done on women, but I‘d bet the same would hold true for men.
So if you never want to hear your doctor say "your cholesterol is a bit high," try getting more foods rich in lycopene into your diet. Fresh tomatoes are going out of season in many parts of the country, but you can also find lycopene in red bell peppers, guava, papaya, pink grapefruit, and watermelon.
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