14 DAY TRIAL // A recent paper in the journal PLOS ONE documents the use of a so-called tomato pill to improve on the overall wellbeing of people suffering from various cardiovascular diseases.
The paper is authored by a team of scientists in the United Kingdom, and it details that, according to evidence at hand, a compound that is naturally occurring in tomatoes can help improve on the function of blood vessels.
The compound in question is known to the scientific community as lycopene, and previous investigations have shown it to be an antioxidant about ten times more powerful than good old vitamin E, EurekAlert informs.
In order to assess this compound's ability to help cardiovascular disease patients feel better, a team of University of Cambridge researchers carried out a series of experiments with the help of 72 volunteers.
Of these volunteers, 36 were suffering from a cardiovascular disease, and 36 were in good health condition. As detailed in the journal PLOS ONE, some of these people were given a supplement containing lycopene, and others received placebo.
Later on, the University of Cambridge specialists assessed their cardiovascular health. The focus was on pinning down changes in the blood vessels of the 72 volunteers. Specifically, the researchers looked at the blood vessels' inner lining.
It was thus discovered that, when compared to healthy individuals whose blood vessels stayed pretty much the same, cardiovascular disease patients who took lycopene-based supplements and not placebo all experienced an improvement in the condition of their blood vessels.
More precisely, the University of Cambridge researchers behind this study say that, courtesy of the treatment they were on, the cardiovascular disease patients enrolled in these experiments experienced a widening of their blood vessels of as much as 53%.
It is believed that, by widening the blood vessels of these people, the lycopene in the tomato pills these volunteers were given helped lower their stroke and heart attack risk without having any influence whatsoever on blood pressure, arterial stiffness or levels of lipids.
“We've shown quite clearly that lycopene improves the function of blood vessels in cardiovascular disease patients,” Joseph Cheriyan comments on the outcome of this series of experiments.
“A daily ‘tomato pill’ is not a substitute for other treatments, but may provide added benefits when taken alongside other medication. However, we cannot answer if this may reduce heart disease – this would need much larger trials to investigate outcomes more carefully,” the researcher wishes to stress.