Whole Food Tomatoes, the Best to Prevent and Treat Metabolic Syndrome, According to Human Studies

By Kyle J. Norton

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions associated with the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The health problems found in the group include too much fat around the waist, elevated blood pressure, high triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and low HDL cholesterol. 

In other words, if you have 3 of the conditions in the group, your risk of CVD and diabetes are increased substantially compared to those who have less.

According to the statistics, approximately 30% of people in the US are living with metabolic syndrome.

Believe it or not, among US adults aged 18 years or older, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome rose by more than 35% from 1988–1994 to 2007–2012, increasing from 25.3% to 34.2%. 

Besides the aforementioned conditions, risks of metabolic syndrome may include age, family history, physical, inactivity, and women with polycystic ovary syndrome, epidemiologically.

Some researchers suggested that MS also facilitates complication of liver diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. 

As of today, treatment of metabolic syndrome commonly is prescribed medications to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and/or blood sugar with an aim to reduce the risk of developing further health complications and improve quality of life.

Some researchers suggested that by changing to a healthy lifestyle and moderate exercise you may do just fine without increasing risk of complications.

Dr. Christos Pitsavos, the lead scientist said, "Individuals with the metabolic syndrome are at high risk for atherosclerosis and, consequently, cardiovascular disease. However, as a result of several epidemiologic studies and some clinical trials, it has been suggested that people with the metabolic syndrome may benefit from intensive lifestyle modifications including dietary changes and adopting a physically more active lifestyle".

Tomato is red, edible fruit, genus Solanum, belongs to family Solanaceae, native to South America. Because of its health benefits, the tomato is grown worldwide for the commercial purpose
and often in the greenhouse.

With an aim to find a potential compound or whole food for the treatment of metabolic syndrome, researchers investigated longitudinally whether serum carotenoids are associated with the risk of developing the MetS and its components in Japanese subjects.

The study included a follow-up study on 1073 men and women aged 30-79 years at the baseline from the Mikkabi prospective cohort study over the 10-year period, with 910 subjects (295 men and 615 women) took part in the follow-up survey at least once.

According to the returned questionnaires, 

* Over the span of 7·8 (sd 2·9) years, thirty-six men and thirty-one women developed new MetS.

* The hazard ratio (HR) for the MetS in the highest tertile of serum β-carotene against the lowest tertile was 0·47.

In other words, high levels of serum α- and β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin were significantly lower risks for dyslipidemia.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote in the final report, "Our results further support the hypothesis that eating a diet rich in carotenoids might help prevent the development of the MetS and its complications in Japanese subjects".

In order to reveal additional information about tomato anti-MetS, researchers assessed the association between serum carotenoids and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a Chinese population. 

Participants recruited from a community-based cross-sectional study included 2148 subjects (1547 women and 601 men) aged 50-75 years in urban Guangzhou, China.

At the end of the study, researchers found that The OR of the MetS for the highest (v. lowest) quartile were 0.31 for α-carotene, 0.23, for β-carotene, 0.44, for β-cryptoxanthin, 0.39 (95% CI 0.26, 0.58) for lycopene, 0.28 for lutein+zeaxanthin and 0.19 for total carotenoids. 

In other words, all bioactive compound found in carotenoids exerted the most anti-metabolic syndrome activity synergistically compared to the individual compound.

The results strongly suggested "Higher concentrations of each individual carotenoid and total carotenoids were significantly associated with a decrease in the number of abnormal MetS components"

And, "Higher serum carotenoid levels were associated with a lower prevalence of the MetS and fewer abnormal MetS components in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults", according to Dr.Liu J, the lead researchers.

Taken altogether, tomatoes processed high amounts of bioactive compound carotenoids may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of carotenoids in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) High serum carotenoids associated with lower risk for the metabolic syndrome and its components among Japanese subjects: Mikkabi cohort study by Sugiura M1, Nakamura M2, Ogawa K1, Ikoma Y1, Yano M. (PubMed)
(2) Higher serum carotenoid concentrations associated with a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults by Liu J1, Shi WQ1, Cao Y1, He LP1, Guan K1, Ling WH1, Chen YM. (PubMed)
(3) Diet, Exercise and the Metabolic Syndrome by Christos Pitsavos,1 Demosthenes Panagiotakos,2 Michael Weinem, and Christodoulos Stefanadis. (PMC)