Discover Oh Yoon-A’s Secret: Healthy Tteokbokki Recipe Using Tomatoes for Weight Management!

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Actor Oh Yoon-ah (45), who has kept her weight steady at 53 kg for two decades, just revealed a tteokbokki recipe that won’t sabotage your figure.

On the 15th, on her YouTube channel Kitchen In a Box, Oh demonstrated tteokbokki made with tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes. She suggested that instead of loading the dish with gochujang and piling on starch, adding polyphenol-rich tomatoes lets you enjoy the flavor while being a bit kinder to your health. She also noted that cooked tomatoes are more beneficial, so she often uses them in her cooking. It’s no surprise tomatoes are increasingly celebrated as a health food—not just a simple vegetable.

The U.S. National Cancer Institute ranks tomatoes first among its top 10 cancer-fighting foods. Time magazine also includes them on its list of the 10 healthiest superfoods.

Lycopene, the pigment that gives tomatoes their red hue, helps neutralize reactive oxygen species linked to cancer and cellular aging. It also supports vascular health and immune function. One study found that people who regularly ate tomatoes had a 53% lower risk of developing advanced prostate cancer than those who didn’t. A 2017 study in the Turkish Journal of Pharmacology reported that lycopene can enhance immune function and inhibit cancer cell growth. Research from the U.S. National Cancer Institute found that people who ate tomato-based dishes more than 10 times a week had a 45% lower incidence of prostate cancer than those who did not.

Lycopene is good for the skin, too: it helps protect against UV damage and oxidative stress. In a 2017 study at Ohio State University, researchers fed tomatoes to mice for 35 weeks and observed reduced UV-induced skin damage and a lower risk of skin tumors.

Tomatoes are also a standout for weight management. They’re low in calories—about 16 kcal per 100 g—and high in water. They contain pectin, a type of dietary fiber that promotes lasting fullness and can ease constipation. A 2014 study at China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan found that participants who drank 280 mL of tomato juice daily experienced weight loss.

How you prepare tomatoes matters. Lycopene levels vary by variety: riper and smaller tomatoes tend to have more lycopene per gram. Heating increases absorption—Cornell University researchers heated tomatoes at 88°C for 2, 15, and 30 minutes and found lycopene absorption rose by 6%, 17%, and 35%, respectively. Cooking with oil boosts the effect further, since heat releases lycopene from the skin into the oil; eating that oil helps your body absorb more.

Like Oh, you can use tomato sauce or paste—reducing water concentrates nutrients and makes it easier to get more lycopene. When choosing store-bought products, opt for those low in added sugar and sodium.

If you want to bring out natural sweetness, reach for a pinch of salt rather than sugar. Sprinkling sugar can reduce vitamin B absorption and spike blood glucose. A little salt can enhance sweetness while allowing sodium to balance the tomato’s potassium, supporting cellular function; it can also form a thin film on the tomato’s surface that helps protect vitamin C from oxidation.

That said, it’s best not to eat tomatoes right before bed. They can irritate the esophagus and trigger heartburn or indigestion, and their diuretic effect may make you wake up to use the bathroom.