Why you should put ketchup on everything
Last Christmas, we had sort of a misfit's Christmas -- we invited a few people who didn't have family in town to celebrate with our small family. And the thing I remember most about that Christmas was that one of the guests poured ketchup over everything we served for Christmas dinner -- the turkey, the stuffing, the broccoli and cheese, you name it. The only thing he didn't have ketchup with was dessert. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact, he might be on to something -- we should all be putting ketchup on everything, according to this article from the Daily Mail. Eating ketchup every day can significantly improve your heart health, according to recent studies. In fact, volunteers who ate ketchup with every meal of the day were shown to have lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels than those who didn't. It's all down to the tomatoes, or rather, the lycopene in the tomatoes. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant and for some reason, it's more prevalent in ketchup than it is in regular tomatoes.
I think it should be pointed out, however, that what you put ketchup on is important too. Slathering it on your French fries doesn't make them healthy, but go ahead and have it with your egg-white omelet.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-10-2007 @ 9:29PM
marcie0305 said...
Wait! I agree with the benefits of lycopene, but most ketchup is highly sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. I actually keep ketchup packets in my desk to use when I think my soup needs a little sweetening!
Organic ketchup, however, tends to be more naturally sweetened (better tomatoes) and the sugar that is added is in the form of cane sugar.
Same goes with most applesauces - they use apples that are - old - and have lost their natural sweetness, and add corn syrup to replace it. My vote is for organic, just because it's a better quality food with a "better" sweetener, FWIW.
~Marcie
http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com
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12-10-2007 @ 9:57PM
Martha Edwards said...
Hey Marcie, you're right -- it is high in sugar, which is why I was surprised the article suggested ketchup and not, say, tomatoes or organic ketchup. I personally can't stand ketchup but I might try it when my soup needs sweetening :)
12-11-2007 @ 9:27PM
marcie0305 said...
LOL that sounds funny now that I read it again - I use it to sweeten my soup (at my desk) when the soup proves too salty for me - works like a charm :)
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