Put Ketchup on Everything

Trying Hard to Ketchup
Originally uploaded by hexod.us

When I was growing up, we put ketchup on potato chips and then low and behold, years later, they sell pre-ketchuped chips. Now scientists are recommending that we put ketchup on everything. Research by Finnish scientists indicates that eating ketchup can help lower bad cholesterol.

Volunteers for the study that was conducted at the University of Oulo in Finland were asked to add a ketchup to their breakfast, lunch and dinner. They saw a twelve percent drop in their LDL cholesterol levels. The changes were seen in as little as three weeks.

The changes we saw can be regarded as significant, considering that the time period was only three weeks and all the volunteers had normal cholesterol levels to start with.

It is important to note that the study wasn't very extensive or in-depth; it only involved twenty-one people. Still, tomatoes have long been regarded as a powerful health food, in part because of lycopene, the chemical that gives tomatoes their distinctive red color.