Your weapon against heart diseases — the tomato pill

Suffering from heart disease? Eat tomatoes. Yes it can be as simple as that. According to a new study, tomatoes might be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to protecting your heart from blocke

Pavitra Sampath | Updated: October 8, 2014 11:06 am

Suffering from heart disease? Eat tomatoes. Yes it can be as simple as that. According to a new study, tomatoes might be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to protecting your heart from blocked arteries and cardiovascular disease.

The study conducted at the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust found that lycopene, a compound found abundantly in tomatoes, actually had the potential to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease related events like a heart attack and stroke. They also found that patients with pre-existing heart disease and those at greater cardiovascular risk (when compared to the rest of the population) could also benefit from tomatoes. In the study, researchers administered a pill containing lycopene to the people involved in the study and found that lycopene was 10 times more potent than vitamin E when it came to antioxidant properties. Scientists also found that this property of lycopene was found to be highest when eaten either in the pureed form, as ketchup or when preserved in olive oil.

Tomatoes have a number of health benefits, and protecting your heart by helping your arteries widen sufficiently so as to allow sufficient blood flow to the entire body is one of its most well noted benefits. But apart from lycopene, tomatoes have also been found to reduce cholesterol levels since they contain many vitamins and antioxidants that prevent cholesterol build-up. Read more about foods that reduce cholesterol and keep heart disease at bay.

Apart from protecting your heart, recently there were reports of a study that found that the antioxidant properties of tomatoes also helped keep cancer at bay.

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Published: June 10, 2014 4:37 pm | Updated:October 8, 2014 11:06 am

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