Lycopene Protects the Arteries Against Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a condition caused by long-term plaques built-up on the wall of the arteries. Over time, continued plaques accumulation can lead to cardiovascular disease.

In other words, narrowing the arteries due to plaques accumulation is a major cause of heart disease and stroke.

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood.

Epidemiologically, the most common risk factors of atherosclerosis are unhealthy blood cholesterol levels associated with high levels of bad and low levels of good cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, insulin resistance, diabetes, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity.

The most common symptoms found in patients with antiatherosclerosis are involved in the reduce blood flow to the body including, chest pain or angina, pain in the leg, and arm, shortness of breath and fatigue and confusion.

Some researchers suggested that the promotion of a high-fat diet that induces widespread obesity in the Western world may be one of the major culprits that cause atherosclerosis.

Dr. Lovren F and colleagues wrote, "Obesity is a multifactorial chronic disease characterized by an accumulation of visceral and subcutaneous fat, which leads to a predisposition toward cardiometabolic diseases".

And, " A plethora of mechanisms, including abnormalities in lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, adipokine imbalance, and inflammasome activation have been suggested to underlie the relationship between obesity and atherosclerosis.".


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 performs various functions in photosynthesis.

On finding a potent compound for the protection of arterial functions, researchers investigated the effects of lycopene on the diet-induced increase in serum lipid levels and the initiation of atherosclerosis in an animal model.

New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits.enrolled in the study were divided into four groups of 9 animals each, fed either a standard diet, a high-cholesterol diet containing 0.5% cholesterol, a high-cholesterol diet containing placebo beadlets, or a high-cholesterol diet plus 5 mg/kg body weight/day of lycopene (in the form of lycopene beadlets), for 4 weeks.

According to the chemical analysis of phytochemicals, the animal group treated with lycopene beadlets showed a significantly elevated lycopene plasma levels compared to other groups.

The lycopene group demonstrated a significant reduction of 50% in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol serum levels compared to the high-cholesterol and placebo group.

Levels of cholesteryl ester accumulated in the aorta were significantly decreased in the lycopene treated group without a significant decrease in the extent of aortic surface lipid accumulation.

In other words, lycopene inhibited some parameters associated with the increased risk of atherosclerosis, particularly in the cholesterol levels.

Based on the findings, researchers concluded, "Lycopene supplementation for 4 weeks increased lycopene plasma levels in the animals. Although we found strongly reduced total and LDL cholesterol serum levels as well as significantly lower amounts of cholesteryl ester in the aortae in the lycopene-treated group".

Moreover, in the comparison of the antiatherosclerotic effect of two antioxidants such as astaxanthin and lycopene in the animal model, lycopene exerted an anti-atherosclerotic property in high cholesterol diet-fed rats by decreasing TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, and triglycerides and increased HDL-C level significantly compared to the control.

Lycopene used a combination with Astaxanthin also showed better hypolipidemic and anti-atherogenic potential compared to the individual application.

Taken altogether, lycopene found in tomato may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis pending on the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of lycopene in the form of supplements 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) Evaluation of Antioxidant, Hypolipidemic, and Antiatherogenic Property of Lycopene and Astaxanthin in Atherosclerosis-induced Rats by Kumar R1, Salwe KJ2, Kumarappan M. (PubMed)
(2) Effects of lycopene on the initial state of atherosclerosis in New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits by Lorenz M1, Fechner M, Kalkowski J, Fröhlich K, Trautmann A, Böhm V, Liebisch G, Lehneis S, Schmitz G, Ludwig A, Baumann G, Stangl K, Stangl V. (PubMed)