
A study showed an average 18 mg/dl (9%) decrease with up to 35 mg per day. It has been found that at least 25 mg per day of lycopene (obtained through both diet and supplementation) elicit beneficial health effects, helping lower total cholesterol levels by an average of 8 mg/dl. In fact, it has also been demonstrated that β-carotene regulates the expression of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in rat liver, both β-carotene and lycopene have been reported to inhibit macrophage HMG-CoA reductase activity and fucoxanthin, a marine carotenoid, modulates both the HMG-CoA reductase and acyl-coenzyme A, all resulting in the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis. It has been suggested that it would be reductive to explain the physiological effects of carotenoids solely by their antioxidant activity. In addition, blood carotenoid concentrations have been inversely associated with cardiovascular disease, total cancer, and all-cause mortality. Dietary carotenoid intake as well as the intake of specific carotenoids (such as α- and β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin and lycopene) have been inversely associated with coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality. URL: Ĭarotenoids are a class of more than 700 naturally occurring pigments synthesized by plants.
Tomato paste substitute for people allergic to tomatoes trial#
Trial registration: ID: 13244115 on the ISRCTN registry, retrospectively registered in. Moreover, we did not report serum carotenoids data. Furthermore, there was a low adherence rate in the tomato sauce group. Of course, these results cannot be extrapolated to other populations. The presence of other dietary components, which may have influenced the results, cannot be ruled out. The present study has various limitations. Intake of a tomato sauce with a high carotenoid content may support treatment of patients affected by common hypercholesterolemia. ConclusionĪ novel functional tomato sauce from vine-ripened tomatoes compares favourably with a commercialised sterol-enriched yogurt in term of absolute LDL-cholesterol change. We found a greater LDL-cholesterol reduction in the participants with a basal LDL-cholesterol more than 152 mg/dl (15% for sterol-enriched yogurt and 12% for tomato sauce at high adherence).

A significant difference in LDL-cholesterol change was found between participants taking yogurt, tomato sauce (high adherence) and tomato sauce (low adherence) (− 16 − 12 + 8 mg/dl respectively p < 0.001). ResultsĪ total of 91 subjects completed the protocol. We measured serum lipids and creatinine and transaminases at basal and follow-up visit. Carotenoids content was 3.5 mg per gram of product.

In this cross-over study, we evaluated a population of 108 ambulatory patients affected by polygenic hypercholesterolemia of both gender, who were allocated to a tomato sauce (namely OsteoCol) 150 ml/day or a sterol-enriched yogurt (containing sterols 1.6 g/die) treatment, for 6 weeks. The aim of this study was to compare the lipid-lowering effect of a novel functional tomato sauce with a well-known functional food with a lipid-lowering effect, i.e. Most studies focused on the benefits of lycopene on serum lipids but no studies have been specifically designed to assess the role of a tomato sauce from vine-ripened tomatoes on patients affected by polygenic hypercholesterolemia.
