Tomato dishes 'may protect skin'

A recent experiment was done which found that adding five tablespoons of tomato paste to the daily diet of 10 volunteers was shown to improve the skin’s ability to protect against harmful UV rays of the sun. The antioxidant lycopene found in tomatoes seems to be the component that may help ward off skin damage by providing protection against UV rays. By the end of this study, skin samples were taken from the group of people with tomato paste added to their daily diet, and they showed a 33% increased protection against sunburn and higher levels of procollagen in the skin. This may suggest a potential reversal of the skin aging process, and researchers are further looking into the benefits of lycopene for the skin.