Tomato: Benefits, Uses & Dosage

Few foods are as everyday as the tomato, and few get a more guarded reception in Ayurveda. If you cook with tomatoes often, or drink tomato juice for health, it is worth knowing that Ayurvedic kitchen medicine treats this fruit with real caution, and uses it only in a handful of carefully spiced remedies.

Tomato belongs to the nightshade family. Ayurveda describes it differently depending on ripeness. Green and yellow tomatoes are sour, sweet and heating, with a pungent post-digestive effect (Katu Vipaka, the taste the food leaves behind once digestion is complete). Red tomatoes are sour and slightly pungent, with a sour post-digestive effect (Amla Vipaka), and are described as cooling in the stomach but heating in the intestines.

Eaten raw, every type is said to provoke all three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Tomatoes are also rich in oxalic acid and tend to form kidney and gallstones. The traditional view is blunt: tomatoes are generally hard on the system, but cooked with certain spices they can be used for healing.

That is the heart of the tomato in Ayurveda. It is an occasional food when cooked with cumin, mustard and turmeric, and a vehicle for spices in a few targeted juice remedies for indigestion, cough, insomnia, mental fatigue and obesity.

Ayurveda does not treat tomato as a healing food on its own. Every benefit below comes from a specific recipe, where tomato juice carries a spice that does much of the work. Raw, plain tomato is not part of any of them.

Digestion

Tomato juice appears in two digestive remedies. For indigestion (Ajirna, food that has not been properly digested), the recipe is 1 cup of tomato juice with 1/8 teaspoon black pepper and a pinch each of hing (asafoetida) and rock salt.

For heavy digestion after eating meat, the tradition suggests 1 cup of tomato juice with a pinch of cumin powder, taken 1 hour after the meal. In both cases the pungent spices supply the digestive spark, and the red tomato's heating action in the intestines fits that purpose.

Respiratory Support

For dry cough (Kasa), breathlessness and chest pain, the recipe is 1 cup of tomato juice with 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons organic sugar and a pinch of ground clove. It is taken on an empty stomach, followed by a wait of at least an hour.

Mental Fatigue and Sleep

For mental fatigue and insomnia, the tradition gives 1 cup of tomato juice with 2 teaspoons organic sugar and 2 pinches of nutmeg between 4 and 5 p.m., followed by dinner between 6 and 7 p.m. Nutmeg is the sleep-supporting ingredient here, and the sugar softens the juice's sourness.

The same recipe is the basis of tomato's narrow role in fatigue and chronic fatigue (Klama). More detail is on the tomato for insomnia page.

Weight Management

For obesity, the remedy is 1 cup of tomato juice with 2 pinches of Trikatu, a blend of ginger, black pepper and long pepper that kindles digestive fire (Agni). It is taken in the early morning, with a 2-hour wait before eating or drinking. See tomato for obesity for the full picture.

These are traditional food remedies. Our sources contain no clinical research on them.

In Ayurveda, tomato is used in two ways: cooked with spices as an occasional food, or as juice in a small set of specific remedies. Raw tomato, which provokes all three doshas, is not recommended.

The spice is the vehicle

In each remedy the added spice matters as much as the tomato. The traditional reasoning is that spices transform a food that is otherwise hard on the system into one that can be used for healing. Ayurveda calls a carrier substance like this the anupana, the vehicle that helps a remedy do its work.

Food combinations to avoid

Classical food-combining rules list tomato as incompatible with milk, yogurt, melon and cucumber. Lemon is also listed as a poor partner for tomato. Keep these out of the same meal.

Tomato is a common food, and cooked with the right spices it is considered all right for everyone once in a while. Ayurveda is still more cautious with it than with most vegetables, and a few groups should avoid it.

Who should avoid tomatoes

The traditional source states plainly that tomatoes are not good for:

• Acidity
• Arthritis
• Sciatica (Gridhrasi)
• Kidney stones (Ashmari)
• Gallstones

Tomatoes are rich in oxalic acid, which is why they are said to tend to form kidney and gallstones.

Raw tomato and the doshas

Raw tomatoes, green, yellow or red, are said to provoke all three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The traditional advice is to cook them with cumin, mustard and turmeric rather than eat them raw.

Food combining

Do not combine tomato with milk, yogurt, melon, cucumber or lemon in the same meal. Classical food-combining rules list these as incompatible.

Remedy-specific cautions

Several tomato remedies add sugar, which matters if you manage your blood sugar. The insomnia recipe uses nutmeg, which should stay at the two pinches specified, and is not recommended in pregnancy.

Our sources do not record drug interactions for tomato. If you take medication or have a health condition, talk to a qualified practitioner before using any of these remedies regularly.

Because tomato is mostly a carrier in Ayurvedic remedies, the useful comparisons are with the other ingredients and foods that cover the same ground.

Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family. Green and yellow tomatoes are sour, sweet and heating with a pungent vipak—they provoke all doshas. Red tomatoes are sour, slightly pungent with a sour vipak, cooling in the stomach and heating in the intestines. Raw red tomatoes also provoke all doshas. They are all right for everyone once in a while when cooked with cumin, mustard and turmeric. Rich in oxalic acid, they tend to form kidney and gallstones.

Although tomatoes are generally toxic to the system, Ayurveda recommends tomatoes cooked with certain spices for healing purposes. Tomatoes are not good for acidity, arthritis, sciatica, kidney and gallstones.

• Heavy digestion (after meat): 1 hour after eating meat, drink 1 cup tomato juice with a pinch of cumin powder.
• Indigestion: 1 cup tomato juice, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, a pinch each of hing and rock salt.
• Mental fatigue and insomnia: 1 cup tomato juice with 2 teaspoons organic sugar and 2 pinches of nutmeg between 4–5 p.m. Have dinner between 6–7 p.m.
• Obesity: 1 cup tomato juice with 2 pinches of trikatu in the early morning. Wait 2 hours before eating or drinking.
• Dry cough, breathlessness and chest pain: 1 cup tomato juice with 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons organic sugar and a pinch of ground clove on an empty stomach. Wait at least an hour.

Our sources say little about tomato for specific groups, so this guidance stays close to the general cautions. When in doubt, cooked and spiced tomato as an occasional food is the most conservative choice.

Pregnancy & Nursing

Our sources give no specific guidance on tomato as a food in pregnancy or while nursing. The insomnia and fatigue recipe contains nutmeg, which is not recommended in pregnancy, so skip that remedy. Check with your doctor or midwife before using any of the tomato juice remedies.

Children

Our sources give no child-specific dosing for any tomato remedy. Keep tomato to occasional cooked dishes with cumin, mustard and turmeric, and seek a practitioner's advice before giving a child any of the juice preparations.

Elderly

Tomatoes are named as unsuitable for arthritis, sciatica, kidney stones and gallstones. If any of these apply, as they often do later in life, avoid tomato remedies and keep cooked tomato to a minimum.

Athletes

Our sources do not address athletic use. The one related remedy is for heavy digestion after meat: 1 cup of tomato juice with a pinch of cumin, taken 1 hour after the meal.