Health Benefits

Sun Dried Tomatoes Provide These Nutritional Benefits

• A 100% vegetable product, VSP Products dry-packed Sun Dried Tomatoes contain virtually no fat and no cholesterol, and naturally low in calories.
• VSP Products Marinated Sun Dried Tomatoes, packed in 100% pure olive oil (or a combination of olive and canola oils), contains no cholesterol. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated (good) fats, which studies confirm helps reduce the risk of heart and inflammatory diseases.
• Sun Dried Tomatoes are a natural source of Vitamins C and a good source of iron. Vitamin C is a recognized antioxidant compound. According to the National Cancer Institute, antioxidant-rich foods may help protect cells, thereby lowering the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart and lung disease.
• Our products contain no trans fat.
• Of the many plant foods that provide Umami in Western tradition, the tomato is foremost. Its attractive, full, rounded 'meaty' flavor comes from its heavy load of glutamates. Although there is no English word for it, Umami is a savory taste imparted by glutamate and ribonucleotides.
  
  The taste of Umami itself is subtle. It blends well with other tastes to expand and round out favors. Most people don't recognize Umami when they encounter it, but it can be detected when eating ripe tomatoes, parmesan cheese, cured ham, mushrooms, meat and fish. Umami plays an important role making food taste delicious.
• Lycopene, a micro-nutrient found in cooked or condensed tomatoes, was cited as reducing the risk of heart attack by as much as 50% in a November 1997 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.