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Drinking a bottle of 200ml tomato juice each day "could lower blood pressure and cholesterol in people at risk for heart disease"
- Drinking 200 ml each day lowered blood pressure by 3%, according to a Japanese study
- The researchers looked at 481 people and found that it also lowered cholesterol by 3.3%
- But critics said the study was too general and did not consider other choices in health
Drinking unsalted tomato juice may reduce the risk of heart disease, according to new research.
Scientists have found that drinking a bottle of 200 ml a day lowers blood pressure and cholesterol in people at risk.
Critics called for caution during the study, noting that it ignored other food choices and lifestyle choices.
Drinking a 200ml bottle of unsalted tomato juice every day can reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a Japanese study
Researchers from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University studied 481 people over the course of a year, thus providing them with the desired amount of drink.
Participants kept logs in which they recorded exactly how much tomato juice they consumed each day, in addition to any health problems they experienced.
Researchers reported that most study participants consumed about one bottle (200 ml) of unsalted tomato juice each day.
Blood pressure fell by 3% in 94 volunteers with pre-hypertension or hypertension (high blood pressure) untreated, on average.
It was the equivalent of the participants' systolic blood pressure – the highest figure – dropping to about 4 mmHg.
The researchers also noted that their diastolic blood pressure – the bottom number – had been reduced by about 3 mmHg.
The NHS and other health organizations report that high blood pressure is greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg.
Among those with high cholesterol levels, 125 experienced an average fat fall of 3.3%, which can block blood vessels and cause heart attacks and strokes.
The beneficial effects were similar in men, women and different age groups, according to findings published in the journal Food Science and Nutrition.
The researchers say that lycopene – a chemical that gives tomatoes their well-known red color – has prevented the plaque from accumulating in the participants' arteries, causing a drop in blood pressure.
They claim that lycopene works by inhibiting LDL – a harmful type of cholesterol that leads to hardening of the arteries.
The study also claims that compounds found in tomatoes decrease the absorption of dietary cholesterol in the small intestine and the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver.
When there is too much cholesterol in the blood, it builds up in the artery walls, causing a process called atherosclerosis, a form of heart disease.
But experts have warned about the results. Victoria Taylor, a senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said more research is needed to accurately represent the health benefits of tomato juice.
She said: "The Japanese population is likely to be different from that of the UK, so we should not generalize.
"The study also did not try to find out what other participants were eating or if they had eaten tomatoes in other forms and did not take into account the fashion factors of life that could have affected their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. "
Ms. Taylor said that increasing your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, helps maintain a healthy heart and circulatory system.
But she warned against consuming more than 150 ml of fruit or vegetable juice a day due to the high sugar content.
Chris P. Gale, a professor of cardiovascular medicine and honorary consultant cardiologist at the University of Leeds, was skeptical about the study but reiterated that a healthy diet reduces the risk of heart disease.
He added, "This small study suggests that unsalted tomato juice was associated with low blood pressure and a better lipid profile.
"However, it has not been conducted with the rigor necessary to provide high quality evidence, such as those from randomized controlled trials."
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