It has long been known that tomatoes possess many health benefits. Whether you eat them raw in salads and sandwiches, or cooked and processed into soups, purees, pastes and sauces, the good news just keeps on coming.

We’ve heard about their effect in preventing various types of cancer, of prostate and the skin, and the humble fruit’s use against heart disease and stroke. Now it’s a great cosmetic too.

The benefits are credited to lycopene, the pigment behind the distinctive red skin and a powerful antioxidant.

Professor Birch-Machin, of Newcastle University believes tomatoes are a cheap and simple way of improving health and looking good.

After a joint study by Manchester and Newcastle universities, he said, “I went into the study as a sceptic, but I was quite surprised with the significance of the findings.”

The British Society for Investigative Dermatology’s annual conference was told that tests using ultra-violet lamps showed that tomato-eaters were a third better protected against sunburn at the end of the study than at the start. Other tests suggested a tomato-based diet boosted production of collagen, the protein that keeps skin supple.

Tomatoes also protect the mitochondria, the parts of cells that turn food we eat into energy. “Being kind to our mitochondria is likely to contribute to improved skin health, which in turn may have an anti-ageing effect,” Professor Birch-Machin said.

The researchers now recommend two tomato-based meals a day for optimum health.

Does the word “beautiful” mean tall, thin, blonde and young? The image of beauty as solely youthful has been promoted even more in the last few decades through television, film and fashion magazines. But even magazines such as Vogue are beginning to realize that mature women can be beautiful and they too, are interested in maximizing their natural assets.

The August issue of Vogue features women of all ages, even women in their 90s who are described as beautiful. In an issue dedicated to aging gracefully, Vogue is recognizing that the face of beauty doesn’t just belong to 20-somethings.

Of course, this is something women have known all along and mature men and women understand that beauty is more than a perfect body and an unlined face. Beauty is the face of understanding, compassion and kindness, the face of intelligence and confidence; many of these attributes only come with having reached a certain maturity.

Still, it is important that a publication such as Vogue recognizes the beauty that comes with maturity. With America’s population aging and the buying power shifting to the older demographic of the buying public, a lot more companies will have to re-assess their focus.