Gasoline And Tomatoes Cheaper Today
Costa Rica woke this morning to cheaper gasoline prices following the approval by the Autoridad Reguldoar de Servicios Público (Aresep) last week.

The reduction announced Monday went into effect at midnight last night after the notice was published in the official government newspaper, La Gaceta.

The price for a litre of super gasoline today is ¢463 down from ¢488; regular ¢440 down from ¢466; and diesel ¢313 down from ¢335.

What the reduction means is a saving of ¢1.170 to fill a 45 litre tank with regular gasoline.

This decrease is on the heels of a steep increase only weeks ago that saw gasoline prices almost reach the high of ¢503 colones per litre of super last year.

The Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (Recope) says it asked for a decrease due to lowering price of crude oil on world markets.

Tomatoes prices have taken a dive between December and February 25, where the price at the agricultural fairs dropped ¢670 colones per kilo.

The price for a kilo of tomatoes in December was ¢930 colones and only ¢260 colones last week, according to a price list prepared by a the Consejo Nacional de Producción and published each week, which is used to set prices at fairs around the country.

The price drop is blamed on overproduction, which according to the Mercados Mayoristas del Programa Integral de Mercadeo Agropecuario (PIMA), is common for this time of year.

And according to the Centro Nacional de Abastecimiento y Distribución de Alimentos (Cenada), which is administered by PIMA, tomatoe demand is up. During the month of February 807 tonnes of tomatoes were sold, up from 718 tonnes in February of 2005 and 700 tonnes in February 2004.

January through May is the largest tomatoe crop production and is the reason for the heavy fall in prices during this period. Nelson Kopper, a director of agriculture for the area of Grecia, said that they have tried to plan the production of the tomatoe which on many occasions to avoid the price drops. But the large number of small and medium growers have impeded all plans.

According to the Oxford dictionary. the tomato, though often used as a vegetable, is technically a fruit.

The tomatoe is also good for you. The red pigment contained in tomatoes is called lycopene. This compound appears to act as an antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals that can damage cells in the body. Only recently, studies have revealed that lycopene may have twice the punch of another well-known antioxidant betacarotene.

Studies conducted by Harvard researchers have discovered that men who consumed 10 servings of tomatoes a week, or the equivalent to 10 slices of pizza, can cut the risk of developing prostate cancer by a formidable 45 percent.

However, its benefits are not limited to the prostate. Italian researchers have found that those who consume more that 7 servings of raw tomatoes lower the risk of developing rectal colon or stomach cancers by 60 percent. Israeli researchers have found that lycopene is a powerful inhibitor of lung, breast, and endometrial cancer cells. Research has also indicated that the lycopene in tomatoes can help older people stay active longer.