Raconteur on Diabetes - special report

Tom Rowland reports

How tomato extracts can fight heart disease

Scientists at Cambridge biotech company have developed a new extract which makes the health-giving properties of tomatoes easier for the body to absorb. 

The benefits of the Mediterranean diet are widely known and lots of research studies have shown that lycopene, a compound found in the red skin pigment of tomatoes and a key element of the health-promoting diet could radically reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Lycopene is the red pigment found in several fruits and vegetables such a guava, rosehips, watermelon, pink grapefruit and red chillies.  But it mainly comes from tomatoes and tomato products.  As a powerful antioxidant, lycopene prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol caused by free radicals – highly unstable and destructive molecules that subject our cells to oxidative stress and continuous damage that eventually kills the cells.

Lycopene can also reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood.  During one study, for three months, 60 men were fed 60 milligrams of lycopene per day – the equivalent found in 1 kilo of tomatoes.  At the end of the treatment period the results showed a 14 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol in the blood.

The benefits are particularly strong for people living with diabetes and for many of these the complications of a cardio vascular disease are a significant worry.

Cardiovascular disease and associated conditions are up to four times more common in people diagnosed with diabetes and it is the commonest cause of death among those with the Type 2, the later onset, form of the disease which affects at least 2.5 million people in the UK.