Tomatoes may protect against lung cancer

Tomatoes may help protect smokers against lung disease, new research on mice suggests.

Japanese scientists found that mixing tomato juice into the animals' drinking water completely prevented them suffering emphysema triggered by tobacco smoke.

Emphysema is predominantly a smokers' condition which prevents the lungs working properly, resulting in breathlessness and wheezing.

Together with chronic bronchitis it is one of the chief causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, which kills about 28,000 people each year in the UK.

Emphysema damages the elastic supporting structure of the lungs, leading to the breakdown and collapse of airways.

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