Due to their popularity and nutritive value, the US Department of Agriculture created a new red and orange vegetable sub-group in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans which provides a greater focus on tomatoes. The new recommendation calls for people to increase their intake from the current average of one serving per day to two.
In research presented at the at the American Dietetic Association’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo held in San Diego (US), ConAgra Foods, the maker of Hunt’s tomatoes, revealed results of a study that tested how practical this new recommendation is for real consumers.
For 10 weeks, 132 participants were provided recipes and meal ideas on how to include two servings of canned tomatoes in their diet. The results showed not only could consumers meet the new recommendation but more than 90% of them said it was easy to do.
Kristin Reimers, nutrition manager, ConAgra Foods, said: “An important part of this new research is that participants did not cut back on other fruits and vegetables when they added more tomatoes to their diets. Because fruit and vegetable intake relates to heart health, nutrition professionals have been trying to get us to eat more of them for decades without much success.”
Since dieting for weight loss is very common in America, the study was also designed to test if increasing consumption of tomatoes to meet the new recommendation was actionable for those maintaining their weight, including individuals trying to lose weight.
Half of the participants ate two servings of tomatoes per day as part of a nutritionally balanced reduced-calorie diet for weight loss, and the second group consumed two servings of tomatoes each day while maintaining their usual diet.
Source: ConAgra Foods
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