11 Oct 2012 Can eating tomatoes lower the risk of stroke?

Eating tomatoes and tomato-based foods is associated with a lower risk of stroke, according to new research published in the October 9, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Tomatoes are high in the antioxidant lycopene.

The study found that people with the highest amounts of lycopene in their blood were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than people with the lowest amounts of lycopene in their blood.

The study involved 1 031 men in Finland between the ages of 46 and 65. The level of lycopene in their blood was tested at the start of the study and they were followed for an average of 12 years. During that time, 67 men had a stroke.

Among the men with the lowest levels of lycopene, 25 of 258 men had a stroke. Among those with the highest levels of lycopene, 11 of 259 men had a stroke. When researchers looked at just strokes due to blood clots, the results were even stronger. Those with the highest levels of lycopene were 59 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest levels.

“This study adds to the evidence that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of stroke,” said study author Jouni Karppi, PhD, of the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. “The results support the recommendation that people get more than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, which would likely lead to a major reduction in the number of strokes worldwide, according to previous research.”

The study also looked at blood levels of the antioxidants alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol and retinol, but found no association between the blood levels and risk of stroke.

The study was supported by Lapland Central Hospital.

Story Source: American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

Journal Reference:

1. J. Karppi, J. A. Laukkanen, J. Sivenius, K. Ronkainen, S. Kurl. Serum lycopene decreases the risk of stroke in men: A population-based follow-up study. Neurology, 2012; 79 (15): 1540 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31826e26a6
   

Stopping stroke before it starts – with ketchup

… Finnish researchers followed a thousand middle-aged men for more than a decade to see if the amount of antioxidants in their diet — including carotene, retinol, and lycopene — had any bearing on the likelihood of stroke. Antioxidants are thought to be “the broom of the system,” disarming free-radical molecules of oxygen that otherwise do damage to cells in the body, but research on the topic is far from definitive.

The Finns found that serum levels of antioxidants had little effect on a patient’s stroke risk — with the exception of lycopene, a red carotenoid found in fruits like tomatoes. Men who consumed lots of lycopene, they report, faced a 55 to 60 percent lower risk of stroke than men who consumed little of the antioxidant.

But beware physicians — and, ahem, journalists — bearing small sample sizes and non-randomized study designs. Relatively few strokes occurred among the cohort, so the evidence may change as the subjects age. And the men with the highest levels of lycopene were also younger, exercised more, and smoked less than their lycopene-deficient peers. Such factors can “confound” epidemiological studies, as it’s impossible to separate correlation and causality. Did lycopene actually ward off strokes with its antioxidant properties, or was it merely a byproduct of a veggie-rich diet and healthy lifestyle?

For now, it’s safe to say that gobs of ketchup can’t hurt you any — but it’s not safe to say much more than that.

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