Red tomatoes against heart attack

Scientists have developed a drug on the basis of the additives from tomato, which reduces the risk of heart diseases and strokes if taken daily.

Tomato pills contain a substance lycopene that inhibits the bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol), which leads to arterial occlusion. A new medication Ateronon is produced by a biotechnological company at Cambridge University, and represents a dietary supplement that the consumers are able to purchase by the middle of 2009.

A preliminary Ateronon test involved 150 participants with different heart diseases. Experiments showed that the drug reduces the oxidation of harmful fats and completely removed them from the body within 8 weeks, reports the BBC with reference to the British Cardiovascular Society.

Neuroscientist Peter Kirkpatrick who conducted a research in the hospital Addenbruk in Cambridge believes that the new drug will be much more effective than statin drugs used to treat patients with high cholesterol. He also showed that the Mediterranean diet, apparently, is a good evidence of lycopene's benefits as people from the south live longer and healthier lives when consuming tomatoes every day. That's a firm proof of lycopene's ability to stop the cholesterol build-up.

However, Professor Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said that "as always in such cases, we ask patients not to rush until a new drug or biological supplement is clinically tested".

In turn, Professor Anthony Leads believes that the new product Ateronon containing lycopene is a completely new approach in the treatment of high cholesterol that opens up excellent opportunities.

Lycopene is an antioxidant, which is contained in the skin of tomatoes and gives them a red color. But in the natural form, the substance is poorly absorbed by the body. Ateronon contains purified lycopene, which is better absorbed.

In addition to the benefits of tomatoes in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, eating tomatoes, as showed the studies conducted by American scientists, significantly reduces the risk of developing malignant tumors.

In the experiments conducted at the University of Illinois and Ohio State University, laboratory animals which were implanted cancerous cells, were receiving a dry tomato extract containing all biologically active substances present in these vegetables. This simple diet reduced the number of deaths from malignant tumors developing from the implanted cells by 26%.

Scientists suppose that the main anti-cancer tomato component is the above mentioned lycopene. It is known that lycopene actively absorbs so-called free radicals - active forms of oxygene which are able to destroy cells and induce cancer development. Apparently, this effect underlies lycopene's anticancer action.