Eat More Cooked Tomatoes
The lycopene in tomatoes, the antioxidant that gives them their red colour, is more bioavailable after cooking than raw. The Harvard Health Professionals Follow-up Study found that men who consumed tomato-based foods more than twice a week had a 23% lower risk of prostate cancer compared to those who rarely ate them. In an Indian kitchen, this translates directly: tomato-heavy dals, sabzis cooked in a base of tomatoes and onion, and even a simple tamatar chutney all count. The mechanism matters here, lycopene appears to slow the rate at which prostate cells divide abnormally. Eating a raw tomato salad occasionally is fine, but the cooked form is what the evidence supports.
