Nutrition And Vitamins In Tomatoes

Like other brightly colored fruits and vegetables, tomatoes provide a wealth of nutrition -- including age- and cancer-fighting antioxidants -- with very few calories and fat grams. Tomatoes and tomato products such as pasta sauce and tomato soup count toward the minimum 5½ cups of fruits and vegetables that adults should aim to eat each day, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Macronutrients

Each 1 cup serving of chopped, red, uncooked tomatoes contains only 32 calories, 1.58 g of protein and 0.36 g of fat, with 7 g of carbohydrates, 2.2 of which come from fiber and therefore do not contribute to the calorie count. The remaining carbs are divided between 2.25 g of glucose and 2.47 g of fructose. Tomato protein is divided among 18 amino acids, including all nine essential amino acids. Within the small amount of fat in tomatoes is a trace of omega-6 fatty acid.

Vitamins

A cup of fresh tomatoes contains nearly one-third of the daily requirement of vitamin C, with smaller amounts of other vitamins. Of the fat-soluble vitamins, a cup of tomatoes provides 11.8 percent of the daily requirement of vitamin K, 8.4 percent of vitamin A and 6.5 percent of vitamin E. Tomatoes also contain B-complex vitamins, with 5 percent of the requirement for thiamine, 2.6 percent riboflavin, 6.7 percent niacin, 3.2 percent pantothenic acid, 11 percent vitamin B-6, 6.8 percent folate and 2.2 percent choline.

Minerals

Like other vegetables and fruits, tomatoes have a positive balance of potassium to sodium, providing 427 mg, or 9.1 percent, of potassium compared with only 9 mg of sodium, which is less than 1 percent of the daily limit for sodium. Tomatoes are also a good source of fluoride and manganese, providing 10 and 8.9 percent, respectively. Smaller mineral contributions include 1.8 percent of calcium, 2.7 percent of iron, 4.8 percent of magnesium, 6.1 percent of phosphorus and 2.8 percent of zinc.

Antioxidants

In addition to the antioxidants mentioned in the vitamin section -- vitamins A, C, E and K -- tomatoes are also an excellent source of lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene -- another form of vitamin A. Although lycopene is available in raw tomatoes, its availability increases in cooked tomato products. One cup of raw tomatoes contains 4,631 mcg of lycopene,but most of it is metabolically unavailable unless you cook the tomatoes first. In addition to lycopene are 808 mcg of beta-carotene and 221 mcg of lutein and zeaxanthin.