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FITNESS TIPS : A Tomato-y Treat That's Truly Tops
Whether it's revving up our veggie burgers or toning down our barbecue sauces, ketchup is one condiment few people could live without.

Topic: Food and Nutrition
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So squeeze more out of it by going organic. Organic ketchup packs three times more lycopene than the regular stuff and almost twice the level of flavonoids. Here's what all that extra nutrition means for your body.

Love That Lycopene
Lycopene gives fruits (like tomatoes!) and veggies a rich red color, and it may give your body a leg up on loads of diseases -- from cancer to clogged arteries.

The best way to get a healthy range of antioxidants is to eat fruits and vegetables representing all colors of the rainbow. Antioxidants, natural chemicals found in plants, help protect the body from free radicals, compounds formed naturally in the body that damage tissues and may contribute to a variety of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Each color contains different antioxidants. Try a different recipe every day to enjoy a variety of antioxidants for good health.

SOURCES: A comparison of carotenoid content and total antioxidant activity in catsup from several commercial sources in the United States. Ishida, B. K., Chapman, M. H., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2004 Dec 29;52(26):8017-8020. Ten-year comparison of the influence of organic and conventional crop management practices on the content of flavonoids in tomatoes. Mitchell, A. E., Hong, Y. J., Koh, E., Barrett, D. M., Bryant, D. E., Denison, R. F., Kaffka, S., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2007 Jul 25;55(15):6154-6159.

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