Eat Tomatoes to Protect Against Heart Attack and Stroke

According to Dr. Fuhrman, carotenoids are a family of over six hundred phytochemicals, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Carotenoids are abundant in green and yellow-orange vegetables and fruits and help to defend the body’s tissues against oxidative damage, oxidative damage from free radicals contributes to chronic diseases and aging.¹

The levels of carotenoids in your skin and in your blood are a good indicator of your overall health because the levels parallel the levels of plant-derived phytochemicals in general. In fact, Dr. Fuhrman uses a carotenoid skin testing method to non-invasively track his patients’ progress as they adopt a nutritarian diet. Low blood levels of total carotenoids, alpha-carotene, and lycopene have been linked to premature death; of all the carotenoids, very low blood lycopene was the strongest predictor of mortality.²

Lycopene is the signature carotenoid of the tomato. The lycopene in the American diet is 85 percent derived from tomatoes.³ Lycopene is found circulating in the blood and also concentrates in the male reproductive system, hence its protective effects against prostate cancer. ⁴ In the skin, lycopene helps to prevent UV damage from the sun, protecting against skin cancer. ⁵ Lycopene is known for its anti-cancer properties, but did you know that lycopene has also been intensively studied for its beneficial cardiovascular effects?

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References

1. Krinsky NI, Johnson EJ. Carotenoid actions and their relation to health and disease. Mol Aspects Med 2005;26:459-516.
2. Shardell MD, Alley DE, Hicks GE, et al. Low-serum carotenoid concentrations and carotenoid interactions predict mortality in US adults: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Nutr Res 2011;31:178-189.
3. Canene-Adams K, Campbell JK, Zaripheh S, et al. The tomato as a functional food. J Nutr 2005;135:1226-1230.
4. van Breemen RB, Pajkovic N. Multitargeted therapy of cancer by lycopene. Cancer Lett 2008;269:339-351.
5. Rizwan M, Rodriguez-Blanco I, Harbottle A, et al. Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo. Br J Dermatol 2010.