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Key Takeaways
- Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant linked to lower risks of heart disease and some cancers, and olive oil helps your body absorb it better.
- Most research supports eating tomatoes and olive oil as part of a balanced diet, not as concentrated shots.
- Choose extra virgin olive oil for more health benefits, but use it in moderation because it is calorie-dense.
Tomato and olive oil shots are the latest wellness trend, with claims that they can boost antioxidants, reduce inflammation, and support heart health. While some viral health hacks don’t hold up to scrutiny, this one has some science behind it.
Tomatoes and extra-virgin olive oil each offer health benefits on their own, and combining them may help your body absorb more of the tomatoes’ beneficial nutrients.
Why This Combination May Boost Antioxidants
Tomatoes are among the richest food sources of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that gives them their red color. Lycopene has been linked to a lower risk of several chronic diseases, including heart disease and some cancers.
The catch is that lycopene is fat-soluble, meaning your body absorbs it better when you eat it with fat.
That’s where olive oil comes in. Extra virgin olive oil contains heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that help your body absorb lycopene more efficiently. Cooking tomatoes with olive oil may increase absorption even more because heat helps release lycopene from the tomato’s cell walls.
This pairing isn’t new. It’s a staple of the Mediterranean diet, where tomatoes and olive oil are commonly enjoyed together in foods like salads, pasta sauces, soups, and bruschetta.
Other Benefits of Tomato and Olive Oil Shots
The ingredients themselves may offer real health benefits.
Tomato juice provides vitamin C, potassium, and lycopene. Some studies suggest that regularly eating tomatoes may help lower inflammation and improve markers of heart and metabolic health, although the overall quality of evidence ranges from low to moderate.
Extra-virgin olive oil has even stronger evidence supporting it. Regular olive oil consumption has been associated with a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and early death. It has healthy monounsaturated fats and naturally occurring plant compounds, called polyphenols, that may also help reduce inflammation and protect blood vessels.
Most research has examined tomatoes and olive oil as part of an overall healthy eating pattern—particularly the Mediterranean diet—rather than as concentrated “shots.” There’s no evidence that taking a daily shot offers benefits beyond regularly eating these foods as part of a balanced diet.
Is It Better Than an Olive Oil and Lemon Shot?
Olive oil and lemon shots have also become popular online, often with claims that they “detox” the body, improve digestion, or cleanse the liver.
While lemons provide vitamin C and add flavor, they don’t offer the same well-studied nutritional pairing as tomatoes. Tomatoes supply lycopene, and the healthy fats in olive oil help your body absorb it more efficiently. That makes the tomato-and-olive-oil combination better supported by research than the olive oil with lemon juice combination.
Should You Try It?
If you enjoy the taste and want to explore the potential benefits, tomato juice and olive oil shots are safe for most people. You don’t necessarily need to take them as a shot, though.
The health benefits come from the ingredients themselves—not from drinking them in a shot form. You’ll likely get the same nutritional benefits, and possibly more, by making a simple tomato salad with olive oil or using olive oil in tomato-based dishes.
If you decide to try the trend, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Choose a low-sodium tomato juice since it is often high in sodium.
- Choose extra-virgin olive oil whenever possible because it contains more beneficial plant compounds than refined olive oil.
- Extra virgin olive oil is calorie-dense, so moderation still matters.
- Neither ingredient can prevent, treat, or cure disease on its own.
- Focus on incorporating tomatoes and olive oil into balanced meals rather than relying on a daily shot.
Read the original article on Verywell Health
