Whole Food Tomato Protects the Obese Against Obesity-Related Co-Morbidities

By Kyle J. Norton


Obesity is a disease characterized by excess body fat has accumulated over time.  A BMI of over 30 is an indication of obesity. 

Overweight is a condition of excess body weight relative to height, a BMI that is between 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.

According to the statistics, 68% of the American population is either overweight or obese. Obesity has been found to induce adverse effects nearly every system of the human body, leading to increased risk of numerous diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Furthermore, the rate of obesity continues to climb at an alarming rate, that leads to significant burdens to the country economy and health care system.

Currently, there is not an effective treatment of the disease. However, some researchers suggested that combat the powerful environmental factors that influence eating and physical activity, particularly in the economy that may be the best approach to reduce the risk of obesity.

Bariatric surgery has been proposed to patients with extreme obesity (BMI of 40 or higher) due to weight-induced a serious weight-related health problem, such as diabetes or high blood pressure accompanied by the commitment of lifestyle changes. However, this type of surgery has posted a serious risk of many patients if the commitment of making lifelong changes in the eating and exercise habits cannot be followed through.

There are many risk factors associated with the onset of obesity. Some researchers suggested that the widespread obesity in the US may be correlated to the promotion high-fat diet over the past few decades.

Dr, Golay A, the lead scientist at the Geneva University Hospital, wrote, "Epidemiological evidence suggests that a high-fat diet promotes the development of obesity and that there is a direct relationship between the amount of dietary fat and the degree of obesity".

And, "Dietary fat induces overconsumption and weight gain through its low satiety properties and high caloric density. Obese and post-obese subjects do not appear to adapt to dietary fat, and therefore fat storage is increased".

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.

On finding a natural and potential compound for the treatment of obesity complication, researchers investigated the effect of the potent tomato-derived antioxidant and oxidative status, and inflammatory markers in obese.

The study included the comparison of 8 obese patients (body mass index 37.5 +/- 2.5 kg/m2) with a control group of eight lean, age and gender-matched subjects (BMI 21.6 +/- 0.6 kg/m2), before and after 4 weeks of lycopene supplementation (tomato-derived Lyc-O-Mato) (30 mg daily).

Before treatment, according to the tested results, compared to control, obese subjects showed significantly reduced levels of plasma carotenoids, increased levels of CRP and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine and oxidative stress.

Additional analysis of the findings, BMI was correlated with increased expression of CRP, proinflammation (IL-6) and oxidative stress.

The presence of high levels IL-6 and oxidative stress also found to correlate inversely with carotenoids (P < 0.05).  

In other words, obese induced increased levels of CRP, IL-6, and oxidative stress were attributed probably by the depletion of antioxidant enzymes produced by the host.

After treatment, lycopene a significant elevation of plasma carotenoids (1.79 vs. 0.54 microg/ml) and plasma of lycopene (1.15 vs 0.23 microg/ml) in the subjects compared to the placebo group.

The results suggested that injection of lycopene improved the levels of antioxidants enzymes in the obese, thus preventing the occurrence of diseases associated with CRP, IL-6, and oxidative stress without affecting the markers of inflammation and oxidation products.

Based on the results, researchers concluded, "Obese patients showed abnormally higher markers of inflammation and oxidation products and lower plasma carotenoids".

And, "The lack of reduction of pro-inflammatory markers could be attributed to the short period of the study and the small number of participants".

Taken altogether, tomatoes processed a high amount of lycopene may be considered supplements for the prevention of obesity-related co-morbidities, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters 
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally 

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca


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) The effect of tomato-derived lycopene on low carotenoids and enhanced systemic inflammation and oxidation in severe obesity by Markovits N1, Ben Amotz A, Levy Y. (PubMed)
(2) The role of dietary fat in obesity by Golay A1, Bobbioni E. (PubMed)