What is the newest weapon in the fight against prostate cancer? Tomatoes: in pasta sauces, juices, or anywhere else, even ketchup! Surprised? Many studies have shown that men who eat tomato rich diets are less likely to get prostate cancer. The newest research just takes it a bit farther.

New findings show that not only will tomato extracts help prevent prostate cancer, but can also shrink pre-existing tumors. Although no one has been quite sure what in the fruit makes it so useful to cancer sufferers, it is suspected that it is lycopene, which makes tomatoes red. Lycopene is already one of the most trendy and popular nutrients out there. Prostate cancer is not the only cancer that tomatoes have helped out, though it shows the most future promise. Tomatoes are also believed to be beneficial to lung, stomach, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, breast, cervical and oral cancers.

As of April this year, lycopene has been shown to be the agent in tomatoes which decreases the aggressiveness of cancerous cells and a decrease in tumor size. Studied patients were given thirty milligrams daily, about the amount of lycopene in a pound of tomatoes, though the pills were more easily absorbed by the body.