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Tag: lycopene

Published on Leave a comment on Lycopene In Tomatoes and Sperm Quality

Reading the following study, I thought to myself - OK, once again someone is testing a supplement, but generally studies find that supplements don't do as well as real, actual foods in whatever is being tested. In this case, a supplement containing lycopene, which is found in tomatoes, was tested by researchers in the UK to see if it would help with sperm quality in men. Other studies have found dietary lycopene to have health benefits (e.g. lower incidence of lethal prostate cancer), which is among the reasons the researchers focused on testing it for semen quality.

The study design was nice - with 60 young healthy men randomly assigned to one of 2 groups - the supplement group and the placebo group, and no one knew who was assigned to which group (double blind). They took either the lycopene supplement (14 mg/d of lactolycopene, equivalent to 2 kg of cooked tomatoes)  or a placebo for 12 weeks. They found changes in sperm quality after the 12 weeks, with significant improvement in the proportion of "fast progressive sperm" and normally shaped sperm (morphology). However, "motile sperm concentration" (the number of moving sperm) did not improve - and this is considered the main measure associated with chance of conception. So it is unknown how the 2 things that improved would affect fertility.

Bottom line: Studies find numerous health benefits from diets rich in fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes and other red foods, such as watermelon, papaya, and pink grapefruit. And yes - ketchup is a good source. Apparently more lycopene is bioavailable when tomatoes are cooked or processed, especially when cooked in oil (as compared to raw tomatoes). And when eating fruits and vegetables, try to eat as many that are organically grown, because eating fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues has a negative effect on sperm quality.

From Science Daily: Dietary supplement from tomatoes discovered to boost sperm quality  ...continue reading "Lycopene In Tomatoes and Sperm Quality"

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Eating more tomatoes is doable, tastes delicious, and reduces prostate cancer risk! From Science Daily:

Fighting prostate cancer with tomato-rich diet

Men who eat over 10 portions a week of tomatoes have an 18 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer, new research suggests. With 35,000 new cases every year in the UK, and around 10,000 deaths, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Rates are higher in developed countries, which some experts believe is linked to a Westernised diet and lifestyle.

To assess if following dietary and lifestyle recommendations reduces risk of prostate cancer, researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford looked at the diets and lifestyle of 1,806 men aged between 50 and 69 with prostate cancer and compared with 12,005 cancer-free men.

The NIHR-funded study, published in the medical journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, is the first study of its kind to develop a prostate cancer 'dietary index' which consists of dietary components -- selenium, calcium and foods rich in lycopene -- that have been linked to prostate cancer. Men who had optimal intake of these three dietary components had a lower risk of prostate cancer.

Tomatoes and its products -- such as tomato juice and baked beans -- were shown to be most beneficial, with an 18 per cent reduction in risk found in men eating over 10 portions a week. This is thought to be due to lycopene, an antioxidant which fights off toxins that can cause DNA and cell damage. 

The researchers also looked at the recommendations on physical activity, diet and body weight for cancer prevention published by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). Only the recommendation on plant foods -- high intake of fruits, vegetables and dietary fibre -- was found to be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. 

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A tomato rich diet may help protect women from breast cancer.From Science Daily:

Diet Rich in Tomatoes May Lower Breast Cancer Risk

A tomato-rich diet may help protect at-risk postmenopausal women from breast cancer, according to new research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.Breast cancer risk rises in postmenopausal women as their body mass index climbs. The study found eating a diet high in tomatoes had a positive effect on the level of hormones that play a role in regulating fat and sugar metabolism.

"The advantages of eating plenty of tomatoes and tomato-based products, even for a short period, were clearly evident in our findings," said the study's first author, Adana Llanos, PhD, MPH, who is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Rutgers University. "Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits. Based on this data, we believe regular consumption of at least the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables would promote breast cancer prevention in an at-risk population."

The longitudinal cross-over study examined the effects of both tomato-rich and soy-rich diets in a group of 70 postmenopausal women. For 10 weeks, the women ate tomato products containing at least 25 milligrams of lycopene daily. For a separate 10-week period, the participants consumed at least 40 grams of soy protein daily. Before each test period began, the women were instructed to abstain from eating both tomato and soy products for two weeks.

When they followed the tomato-rich diet, participants' levels of adiponectin -- a hormone involved in regulating blood sugar and fat levels -- climbed 9 percent. The effect was slightly stronger in women who had a lower body mass index.