Tomatoes are an important source of antioxidant compounds, such as lycopene, phenolics and ascorbic acid.

Research from Lincoln University, Canterbury has found that even though high levels of lycopene are present in tomatoes, only a small amount is released when they are digested by humans.

The study by Lincoln University scientists along with researchers from the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research used a model of the digestive tract to simulate the activity of the human stomach and small intestine in order to measure the amount of lycopene and other antioxidants released from tomatoes during typical digestive conditions.

The study found that although around 75% of the total antioxidants were released, this included only 4% of the lycopene found in the raw tomato.

Nutritional biochemist Carolyn Lister says tomatoes are the richest source of lycopene in the human diet, as well as containing other antioxidants essential for health, but the human digestive tract is unable to release the majority of lycopene from raw tomatoes, so only a small amount is made available for the body to use.

Lister says processing tomatoes has been shown to make lycopene more bioavailable, so as well as eating raw tomatoes for their nutritional value, we should eat tomato sauces to get the goodness of the lycopene.

The research is published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition.

At the end of the study, the researchers found that:

In males:

Coffee: increased food intake by 21%, decreased markers of oxidative stress by 39-65%, increased markers of antioxidant enzyme protein content by 46-139%, and decreased markers of cell death by 34-36%. Caffeine: increased food intake by 22%, decreased markers of oxidative stress by 45-81%, increased markers of antioxidant enzyme protein content by 21-99%, and decreased markers of cell death by 17-22%. Chlorogenic acid: increased food intake by 12%, decreased markers of oxidative stress by 25-35%, increased markers of antioxidant enzyme proteins by 23-44%, and decreased cell death by 41-44%.

In females:

Coffee: increased food intake by 30%, decreased markers of oxidative stress by 64%, but did not increase markers of antioxidant enzymes or decrease markers of cell death. Caffeine: increased food intake by 28%, decreased motor performance by 20%, decreased markers of oxidative stress by 58%, decreased markers of antioxidant enzyme protein content by 11-48%, and increased cell death by 23-74%. Chlorogenic acid: increased markers of oxidative stress by 178%, had equivocal effects on markers of antioxidant enzyme protein content, and decreased cell death 33-39%.

Conclusion

According to Ms. Seevaratnam, "If we were to extrapolate these results to human patients with ALS, then coffee appears to be beneficial for men, both reducing oxidative stress and cell death, and increasing antioxidants. But for women, caffeine appears to be harmful. Women with the disorder may want to restrict caffeine consumption, or switch to decaffeinated products which contain the antioxidants, but with little caffeine."

the-aps/