Eating a raw tomato may not be the best way to release all of its healthy anti-oxidants.
Research by Plant & Food Research, in collaboration with Lincoln University has found that lycopene, a valuable antioxidant found in high levels in tomatoes, is only released in small amounts when they are eaten raw.
So as well as eating raw tomatoes for their nutritional value, we should look to tomato sauces to get the goodness of the lycopene.
It's the processing, the researchers say, that makes lycopene more able to be digested and absorbed.
Scientists used a model of the digestive tract, simulating the activity of the human stomach and small intestine, to measure the amount of lycopene and other antioxidants released from tomatoes during typical digestive conditions.
The study found that although around 75% of the total antioxidants were released, this included only 4% of the lycopene found in the raw tomato.
