Researchers from the University of Manchester asked a group of ten volunteers who ate the equivalent of five tablespoons of tomato paste and ten grams of olive oil for twelve weeks and an equivalent to just take the oil.

The scientists exposed volunteers in both groups at the beginning and the end of the experiment to ultraviolet radiation and found that the first group were 33 percent less likely to burn at the second exposure to sunlight. The effect of concentrated tomato paste was equivalent to 1.3 of protection factor cream for the skin, as the scientists estimated.

The tomato diet also increased levels of procollagen, a molecule that helps maintain the suppleness of the skin. Scientists believe that these beneficial effects are due to the presence in tomato of a powerful antioxidant known as lycopene. This substance, which is what gives its green color to tomatoes, has the ability to neutralize harmful molecules produced in skin exposed to ultraviolet rays.

The damage produced by these free radicals in skin structures lead to premature aging and in the most extreme cases of skin cancer.

Thus, another team from Newcastle University found that lycopene limit the harmful effects of sunlight on the DNA of the mitochondria (cellular organelles responsible for supplying and managing the energy required for cellular processes). Disturbances experienced by mitochondrial DNA are also associated with skin aging.

Commenting on the results of these experiments, Professor Lesley Rhodes, dermatologist at the University of Manchester, said that we should not think that tomatoes can replace skin creams, but can enhance its effect.

“If the individual is able to improve their protection in the long run through diet, it can have a significant effect,” said British scientist.