Phytochemical Lycopene Reduces Risk of Obesity

By Kyle J. Norton

Obesity is a progressive chronic disease, associated with abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the body.

People who have a BMI of over 30 are considered to be obese.

According to the statistics provided by Obesity Cabada, the rate of obesity has increased at an alarming rate in Canada over the past few decades.

Approximately over 30% of Canadian adults are considered obese that may require medical support to manage their disease.

Epidemiologically, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, cancer, and other major health problems have been found in most obese patients, causing concern to the scientist community in the health care system.

Furthermore, obesity is associated with increased mortality and a number of complications including diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and cancer.

Believe it or not, obesity has been found contributing to one 10 premature deaths among Canadian adults age 20 to 64. As of today, the health care system in Canada has spent between $5 billion and $7 billion for the treatment of obese related complications.

Conventionally, treatment of obesity is depending on the medical condition, however, the commitment of reduced weight through a healthy diet accompanied by moderate exercise has been proposed to target the complications.

Dr. Angela Makris, the lead scientist in examining dietary approaches to the treatment of obesity
wrote, "Popular dietary approaches for weight loss have generated widespread interest and considerable debate. While energy balance remains the cornerstone of weight control (i.e., calories still count), new diets and books promising weight loss by limiting certain foods or macronutrients rather than energy are constantly emerging and hitting the bestseller list".

And, "More effective weight loss options are needed to support healthy and sustainable eating behaviors".

Lycopene is a phytochemical found in tomato in the class of carotenoid, a natural pigment with no vitamin A activity found abundantly in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons, and papayas,

Tomatoes provide about 80% of the lycopene in the world diet. In plants, lycopene protects the host against excessive photodamage and perform various functions in photosynthesis.

On finding a potential compound for the prevention of obesity, researchers examined and compared the effect of lycopene and tomato powder on obesity-associated disorders.

Male C57BL/J6 mice selected to the study were assigned into four groups to receive: control diet (CD), high-fat diet (HFD), a high-fat diet supplemented with lycopene or with tomato powder (TP) for 12 weeks.

In male C57BL/J6 mice fed by the HFD, increased adiposity index, organ, and relative organ weights were significantly reduced by lycopene and TP supplementation.

Futhermore, elevated serum triglycerides, free fatty acids, and 8-iso-prostaglandin GF2α associated with lipid peroxidation and glucose homeostasis involved in the secretion of insulin from pancreatic beta cells were significantly improved by the administration of lycopene and TP supplementation.

Liver tissues oxidative stress markers induced overexpression of free radicals was reduced by lycopene and TP supplementation through a decrease of inflammatory proteins in adipose tissue.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "These results suggest that lycopene or TP supplementation display similar beneficial health effects that could be particularly relevant in the context of nutritional approaches to fight obesity-associated pathologies.".

Taken altogether, lycopene found in tomato may be considered a functional remedy, pending on 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.

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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) Lycopene and tomato powder supplementation similarly inhibit high-fat diet induced obesity, inflammatory response, and associated metabolic disorders by Fenni S1,2, Hammou H2, Astier J1, Bonnet L1, Karkeni E1, Couturier C1, Tourniaire F1, Landrier JF. (PubMed)
(2) Lycopene supplementation modulates plasma concentrations and epididymal adipose tissue mRNA of leptin, resistin and IL-6 in diet-induced obese rats by Luvizotto Rde A1, Nascimento AF, Imaizumi E, Pierine DT, Conde SJ, Correa CR, Yeum KJ, Ferreira AL. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary Approaches to the Treatment of Obesity by Angela Makris, Ph.D., R.D. and Gary D. Foster, Ph.D. (PMC)