Tomato pill 'beats heart disease' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Scientists say a natural supplement made from tomatoes, taken daily, can stave off heart disease and strokes.

The tomato pill contains an active ingredient from the Mediterranean diet - lycopene - that blocks "bad" LDL cholesterol that can clog the arteries.

Ateronon, made by a biotechnology spin-out company of Cambridge University, is being launched as a dietary supplement and will be sold on the high street.

Experts said more trials were needed to see how effective the treatment is.

Preliminary trials involving around 150 people with heart disease indicate that Ateronon can reduce the oxidation of harmful fats in the blood to almost zero within eight weeks, a meeting of the British Cardiovascular Society will be told at Ateronon's launch on Monday.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8076556.stm

[tridim]

1. Or just eat tomatoes.

:shrug:

[supernova]

2. Cooked tomatoes

The lycopene doesn't develop unless heat is involved.

I wonder:

1 lycopene pill = # of servings of tomato sauce?

[valerief]

3. Are tomatoes going to be banned or something? Why take a pill? nt

[salvorhardin]

4. Because by developing a medication, dosage can be regulated

From the article:

Lycopene is an antioxidant contained in the skin of tomatoes which gives them their red colour. But lycopene ingested in its natural form is poorly absorbed.

Ateronon contains a refined, more readily absorbed version of lycopene that was originally developed by Nestle.

There's also the factor that different tomatoes prepared in different ways will have varying amounts of the desired chemical.

It'll be a while though before clinical trials prove the efficacy (or not) of Ateronon. In the meantime, as the article further notes:

"...our advice to heart disease patients or those at high risk is to rely on proven medications prescribed by their doctor, and aim to get the benefits of a Mediterranean diet by eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg."

[applegrove]

5. Amazing the stuff they are coming up with.

[BuddhaGirl]

6. lycopene also good for the prostate

"Lycopene is in the carotenoid family, meaning that it is beta-carotene’s chemical cousin, and it is actually a much more powerful antioxidant. A study at Harvard University showed that men who had just two servings of tomato sauce per week had 23 percent less prostate cancer risk, compared to those who rarely had tomato products.24 Men consuming ten or more servings of tomato products each week had a 35 percent reduction in risk, and that was true even if their tomatoes came in the form of pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, or ketchup. In fact, the cooking process releases lycopene from the plant’s cells, increasing your ability to absorb it."

http://www.cancerproject.org/survival/cancer_facts/prostate_health.php


I Love to see this kind of info!!

[silverweb]

7. I remember reading something similar about tomato paste.

Basically, the article said for significant benefit, find a way to incorporate at least 2 tablespoons of tomato paste in the diet daily.

There's a very good article _here_, though not the same one, and I don't know what the recommendation of 40 gm of tomato paste translates to in terms of volume.