在蔬菜当中，番茄是个非常与众不同的品种。它既可以当水果，又可以当蔬菜。虽然西方人习惯于用番茄、番茄酱和番茄沙司来做菜，但大部分中国人却喜欢凉拌或者生吃。特别是市面上深红色的“圣女果”和橙红色的小番茄，基本上是用来做水果生吃的。
于是就会产生许多争论：番茄熟吃是白吃，浪费其中的维生素C；番茄生吃是白吃，吸收不了番茄红素。于是，消费者面对番茄，真是左也为难，右也为难。究竟怎么吃最好呢？不妨来看看国外的研究结果。
美国Iowa大学的研究者们找了一群研究生来做受试者，让他们吃一碗含有番茄的蔬菜沙拉，只不过分别用不同的沙拉调料。研究者给他们的静脉上连上一个小塑料管，以便在进食前后定时搜集血液样品用于测定。
学生们自己觉得，吃什么沙拉酱都差不多，反正味道相近。不过，实际上沙拉酱的内容很不相同，有的是正常含80%脂肪的沙拉酱，有的是低脂沙拉酱，有的干脆用脂肪替代物，可吸收脂肪的含量为零。
不过，测定的结果就大不一样了。只有吃传统沙拉酱的时候，血液中的番茄红素、胡萝卜素、叶黄素等有益成分才会明显升高，用低脂或脂肪替代沙拉酱时效果很差。于是，研究者表示，虽然生吃蔬菜很时髦，无脂肪烹调也很时髦，但吃深颜色蔬菜的时候，有点油还是好的。
不过，这种遗憾也并非没有方法来弥补。研究者表示，只要充分咀嚼，嚼烂一些，切成碎末，或者擦碎成末，类胡萝卜素的吸收率就能上升，因为只要细胞被破坏，其中的类胡萝卜素就容易跑出来。从这种意义上来说，把胡萝卜打成浆状，尽管会严重地损失维生素C，却有利于吸收其中的胡萝卜素。
西班牙科学家发表在《食品科学杂志》上的一篇研究非常细致。他们测定了用20种蔬菜的6种烹调方法，比较其中抗氧化成分的损失程度。令人惊讶的是，在烹调之后，胡萝卜的抗氧化效果反而增加了。豌豆、大蒜和甜菜无论怎么烹调，损失都很小。结果发现，最能保存抗氧化成分的烹调方法是微波烹调，而煮烂和高压烹调损失最大。这倒不是因为煮和高压烹调的温度太高，而是因为煮得太烂，大部分抗氧化成分都溶入水中，结果菜里面的反而就少了。很多人在煮菜之后都会把煮菜水扔掉，这样营养成分和抗氧化成分都会丢掉。如果连水一起吃掉，损失就很小了。
这是一个相当不错的消息。与国外那种或者生吃、或者煮个稀巴烂的烹调方法相比，国人或焯拌、或快炒或连汤炖的蔬菜烹调习惯，并不会给蔬菜的抗氧化物质带来太多的损失。
不过，人们完全不必拘泥于“怎么吃最好”的说法。我个人认为，只要是自己喜欢的，油脂不过多，加热温度不过高，自己最喜欢的，就是最好的烹调方法。因为，就算有部分损失，就算吸收率不尽如人意，只要多吃一些就能补回来。而那些没有损失的营养素，比如钾，比如纤维，我们就会得到更多。而那些让人难以下咽的吃法，就算营养上似乎毫无损失，最后的结果还是吃得太少。
所以，如果想把番茄当水果生吃，或者把它打成汁喝，都完全不必有什么顾虑。关键是，吃了之后肚子是否发凉，是否会腹泻。如果没有这类问题，那就按自己的食欲来吃吧。
译文:
Is That in Vain to Eating Uncooked Tomatoes
Tomato is a radically distinctive variety of vegetables. It can both be fruit and vegetable. Although the occidental people are used to use tomatoes, tomato ketchup and tomato sauce to do cooking, but most Chinese people like to eat tomatoes in cold with sauce or in raw. Especially the deep red Cherry tomatoes and the orange red tiny tomatoes on the market are eaten in raw as fruits commonly.
Then there is many arguments result from, it’s in vain to eating cooked tomatoes due to wasting the vitamin C in it; It’s in vain to eating uncooked tomatoes due to the lycopene can not be absorbed. And then, consumers are between a rock and a hard place to choose how to eat tomatoes. We may have a look at the search outcome abroad as well.
Searchers of the IOWA University of the United States found a group of post graduate students to be the subjects, let them have a bowl of vegetable salad with tomatoes but used different salad flavoring in each other. Searchers put a tiny plastic tube to join the vein which was used for collect blood example timed to detect when before or after eating.
Students felt nothing different of eating which salad, they tasted close. But, in fact, the ingredients of the salad is so different, some are normal with 80% fat, some are fatless salad, some are just used fat substitute without more, the absorbable fat is nil.
But the detect outcomes have great difference. The useful ingredients like lycopene, carotene and lutein will absolutely rise up when eating traditional salad, eating the fatless and the fat substitute are both in bad effect. So, searcher indicated, although is up to date when eating uncooked vegetables, but is also good to have a bit of oil when eating dark color vegetables.
Nevertheless there is not without any way to make up this pity. Searcher indicated that the absorptivity of carotenoid would be rose up by chewing fully and chewing more well, also cut or grind into powder because the carotenoid is easy to release out as long as the cell is destroyed. On this meaning, in spite of beating carrot into pulpy will lose vitamin C seriously but is good for the absorptivity of the carotene in it.
A study article which is issued in the Food Scientific Magazine by the Spanish scientist is very particular. They had detected 6 cooking ways in 20 varieties of vegetables and compared the losing level of the anti-oxidation. What made people surprised is, the anti-oxidation effect of carrot rose up on the contrary after cooking. Pease, garlic and sugar beet all lost so less however they had been cooked. The result found, the best cooking way to keep the anti-oxidation is microwave, and cooking boil to a mush and high pressure will lose large part. This is not because of the high temperature but cooked too over, the most anti-oxidation dissolved into water resulted in the vegetables only have less anti-oxidation. Lots of people put the water away after cooked vegetables, this is also threw away the nutrition and anti-oxidation. And if you eat them with the water, then the loss becomes so less.
This is a great information. Compare with the abroad cooking method which is cooked in raw or cooked into pieces, our boiled mixing, stir fried or stewed with soup didn’t lose too many anti-oxidation of vegetables.
People should not be bound up with what is the best way to eat. My personal opinion is without too much oil, without too high temperature, just the way you like, and is the way you like most, then is the best way of cooking. Because even there is losing some part and even the absorptivity is not as you wish, just eat more and you can take them back. And we will get more nutrition which didn’t lose like potassium or fiber. The cooking ways which made people hard to eat still made people have too less in spite of the nutrition seems without any loss.
So, don’t be anxious if you want to eat tomatoes in raw as fruits or beat them into juice. The key is will it cause stomach cold or diarrhea. If without this problem, then just eat as your favorite way.