As we see in the anime Pikachu, especially Ash’s Pikachu, love ketchup. In fact this gag appears at least once every generation of Pokemon if I’m not mistaken, the most clear memory I have of a non-Kanto occurance was during the Hoenn anime Pikachu in the background of a shot dumping a plethora of ketchup onto a pile of fries. But why would, hypothetically, Pikachu like ketchup so much?
Let’s break ketchup down to its essential ingredients: vinegar, sugar (usually corn syrup), and Tomatoes.
Let’s start with sugar; sugar is a source of energy, and the most common kind found in ketchup is fructose, a simple sugar or monosaccharide. In nature. fructose is considered to be (relatively) the sweetest sugar and therefor the one that tastes the best. So from the sweetener, Pikachu get energy and taste, simple enough, yet the least relevant to my theory.
Next let’s examine the health benefits of vinegar (you’re having fun, I know it). Vinegar is able to help fight microbes in the body (like germs and stuff), reduce unhealthy cholesterol, keep in check diabetes, and promote healthy heart function. Now we hit the gold mine. Pikachu is a rodent, and as most probably know, rodent’s have a very fast beating heart and need it to pumping optimally. Keeping a Pikachu’s cardiovascular system in check would be a good idea for a trainer. because as the heart beats using a form of bio-electricity there is most likely a connection between its heart’s strength and the strength of it’s bio-electric attacks (or maybe not, who knows I’m just spit balling here).
Vinegar’s ability to fight disease is also a great help, as the anime points out, Pikachu tend to have some health problems like colds, electrical backups, short outs, and other weird bio-electric-flu-type-stuff.
Finally the anticlimactic tomato reinforces the same stuff the vinegar does. Lycopene in tomatoes, especially cooked tomatoes, helps to reduce cancer and is a big boost to heart health. Lycopene is also a very powerful antioxidant, helping with healthy cell growth and longevity. On a side note, tomatoes are one of the few plants that actually gain health benefits when they are cooked.*insert rainbow*The More You Know*insert rainbow*.
Enjoying these pokemon science things? like it or reblog it or completely ignore it because it’s a big block of text. Next time I’m going to look into the real life inspiration for another pokemon, haven’t decided which one yet, but that’s what’s up next. till then.
ifesbob 