Research - Tomatoes
See also Lycopene
Keeping older muscles strong
University of Iowa scientists discover cause of and potential treatment for muscle weakness and loss due to aging
As we grow older, we lose strength and muscle mass. However, the cause of age-related muscle weakness and atrophy has remained a mystery.
Scientists at the University of Iowa have discovered the first example of a protein that causes muscle weakness and loss during aging. The protein, ATF4, is a transcription factor that alters gene expression in skeletal muscle, causing reduction of muscle protein synthesis, strength, and mass. The UI study also identifies two natural compounds, one found in apples and one found in green tomatoes, which reduce ATF4 activity in aged skeletal muscle. The findings, which were published online Sept. 3 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could lead to new therapies for age-related muscle weakness and atrophy.
"Many of us know from our own experiences that muscle weakness and atrophy are big problems as we become older," says Christopher Adams, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medicine in the UI Carver College of Medicine, and senior study author. "These problems have a major impact on our quality of life and health."
Previously, Adams and his team had identified ursolic acid, which is found in apple peel, and tomatidine, which comes from green tomatoes, as small molecules that can prevent acute muscle wasting caused by starvation and inactivity. Those studies set the stage for testing whether ursolic acid and tomatidine might be effective in blocking the largest cause of muscle weakness and atrophy: aging.
In their latest study, Adams' team found that ursolic acid and tomatidine dramatically reduce age-related muscle weakness and atrophy in mice. Elderly mice with age-related muscle weakness and atrophy were fed diets lacking or containing either 0.27 percent ursolic acid, or 0.05 percent tomatidine for two months. The scientists found that both compounds increased muscle mass by 10 percent, and more importantly, increased muscle quality, or strength, by 30 percent. The sizes of these effects suggest that the compounds largely restored muscle mass and strength to young adult levels.
"Based on these results, ursolic acid and tomatidine appear to have a lot of potential as tools for dealing with muscle weakness and atrophy during aging," Adams says. "We also thought we might be able to use ursolic acid and tomatidine as tools to find a root cause of muscle weakness and atrophy during aging."
Adams' team investigated the molecular effects of ursolic acid and tomatidine in aged skeletal muscle. They found that both compounds turn off a group of genes that are turned on by the transcription factor ATF4. This led them to engineer and study a new strain of mice that lack ATF4 in skeletal muscle. Like old muscles that were treated with ursolic acid and tomatidine, old muscles lacking ATF4 were resistant to the effects of aging.
"By reducing ATF4 activity, ursolic acid and tomatidine allow skeletal muscle to recover from effects of aging," says Adams, who also is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center and the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, and is a staff physician with the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Source : University of Iowa
Link to Source
Diet Rich in Tomatoes May Lower Breast Cancer Risk
A tomato-rich diet may help protect at-risk postmenopausal women from breast cancer, according to new research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.Breast cancer risk rises in postmenopausal women as their body mass index climbs. The study found eating a diet high in tomatoes had a positive effect on the level of hormones that play a role in regulating fat and sugar metabolism.
“The advantages of eating plenty of tomatoes and tomato-based products, even for a short period, were clearly evident in our findings,” said the study’s first author, Adana Llanos, PhD, MPH, who is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Rutgers University. Llanos completed the research while she was a postdoctoral fellow with Electra Paskett, PhD, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. “Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits. Based on this data, we believe regular consumption of at least the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables would promote breast cancer prevention in an at-risk population.”
The longitudinal cross-over study examined the effects of both tomato-rich and soy-rich diets in a group of 70 postmenopausal women. For 10 weeks, the women ate tomato products containing at least 25 milligrams of lycopene daily. For a separate 10-week period, the participants consumed at least 40 grams of soy protein daily. Before each test period began, the women were instructed to abstain from eating both tomato and soy products for two weeks.
When they followed the tomato-rich diet, participants’ levels of adiponectin – a hormone involved in regulating blood sugar and fat levels – climbed 9 percent. The effect was slightly stronger in women who had a lower body mass index.
“The findings demonstrate the importance of obesity prevention,” Llanos said. “Consuming a diet rich in tomatoes had a larger impact on hormone levels in women who maintained a healthy weight.”
The soy diet was linked to a reduction in participants’ adiponectin levels. Researchers originally theorized that a diet containing large amounts of soy could be part of the reason that Asian women have lower rates of breast cancer than women in the United States, but any beneficial effect may be limited to certain ethnic groups, Llanos said
Source : Newswisw
Link to Source
Tomato Juice can Reduce Osteoporosis
Tomato juice can significantly increase the presence of cell-protecting antioxidants that help to fight against osteoporosis, according to new research.
Writing in Osteoporosis International, calcium researchers at the University of Toronto (UT) claim that 30mg of lycopene found in tomatoes – the equivalent to two glasses of tomato juice – is enough to help prevent the brittle-bone disease.
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Research and Development Departments of Genuine Health, Heinz, Millenium Biologix, Kagome (Japan), and LycoRed.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is characterised by low bone mass, which leads to an increase risk of fractures, especially the hips, spine and wrists. An estimated 75 million people suffer from it in Europe, the US and Japan.
Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men and previous research indicates that diabetes decreases bone turnover that is associated with impaired osteoblastic maturation and function.
According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the total direct cost of osteoporotic fractures in Europe is €31.7bn so boosting bone density in high-risk and post-menopausal women could ease the burden of osteoporosis.
Lycopenes
Lycopene is the red pigment in tomatoes and several fruits. According to the UT scientists, it is a potent carotenoid – a group of naturally occurring pigments essential for plant growth – with a high ability to quench singlet oxygen.
Due to this ability to decrease oxidative stress, lycopene has been associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases.
The researchers claims that to date, no intervention studies have been published demonstrating the effect of the antioxidant lycopene on bone, and that the aim of the study thus was to determine whether lycopene would act as an antioxidant to decrease oxidative stress parameters that result in decreased bone turnover markers.
Methodology and results
Post-menopausal women aged 50 to 60 were restricted from consuming anything containing lycopene for a month.
The participants were split into four groups over four months. Each group of participants either consumed a 15mg lycopene supplement, a glass of tomato juice naturally containing 15mg of lycopene, a gourmet Japanese tomato juice with 35mg of lycopene or a placebo.
Serum collected after the washout, 2 and 4 months of supplementation, was assayed for cross-linked aminoterminal N-telopeptide, carotenoid content, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid, and protein oxidation, added the authors.
By the end of the initial lycopene-free month, in every participant, "There was an increased reobsorption of bone. In other words, within a month, the participants were more prone to the risk of osteoporosis," says Leticia Rao, director of the Calcium Research Laboratory who conducted the study.
After four months, results showed that lycopene-supplementation had significantly increased serum lycopene compared to the placebo group.
The lycopene groups had significantly increased antioxidant capacity, decreased oxidative stress parameters and decreased bone reobsorption markers.
The results of the study, concluded the researchers, showed a significant increase in serum lycopene after supplementation with juice or lycopene based capsules, which resulted in a decrease in the bone resorption marker NTx in postmenopausal women:
“This reduction in NTx may be due to the ability of the absorbed lycopene to reduce the oxidative stress parameters in these women. Our findings are the first to show that lycopene intervention, given in capsule or juice form, supplying at least 30 mg/day, may decrease the risk of osteoporosis by decreasing oxidative stress and bone resorption.”
Source : Nutraingredients USA
LINK TO SOURCE
Keeping older muscles strong
University of Iowa scientists discover cause of and potential treatment for muscle weakness and loss due to aging
As we grow older, we lose strength and muscle mass. However, the cause of age-related muscle weakness and atrophy has remained a mystery.
Scientists at the University of Iowa have discovered the first example of a protein that causes muscle weakness and loss during aging. The protein, ATF4, is a transcription factor that alters gene expression in skeletal muscle, causing reduction of muscle protein synthesis, strength, and mass. The UI study also identifies two natural compounds, one found in apples and one found in green tomatoes, which reduce ATF4 activity in aged skeletal muscle. The findings, which were published online Sept. 3 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could lead to new therapies for age-related muscle weakness and atrophy.
"Many of us know from our own experiences that muscle weakness and atrophy are big problems as we become older," says Christopher Adams, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medicine in the UI Carver College of Medicine, and senior study author. "These problems have a major impact on our quality of life and health."
Previously, Adams and his team had identified ursolic acid, which is found in apple peel, and tomatidine, which comes from green tomatoes, as small molecules that can prevent acute muscle wasting caused by starvation and inactivity. Those studies set the stage for testing whether ursolic acid and tomatidine might be effective in blocking the largest cause of muscle weakness and atrophy: aging.
In their latest study, Adams' team found that ursolic acid and tomatidine dramatically reduce age-related muscle weakness and atrophy in mice. Elderly mice with age-related muscle weakness and atrophy were fed diets lacking or containing either 0.27 percent ursolic acid, or 0.05 percent tomatidine for two months. The scientists found that both compounds increased muscle mass by 10 percent, and more importantly, increased muscle quality, or strength, by 30 percent. The sizes of these effects suggest that the compounds largely restored muscle mass and strength to young adult levels.
"Based on these results, ursolic acid and tomatidine appear to have a lot of potential as tools for dealing with muscle weakness and atrophy during aging," Adams says. "We also thought we might be able to use ursolic acid and tomatidine as tools to find a root cause of muscle weakness and atrophy during aging."
Adams' team investigated the molecular effects of ursolic acid and tomatidine in aged skeletal muscle. They found that both compounds turn off a group of genes that are turned on by the transcription factor ATF4. This led them to engineer and study a new strain of mice that lack ATF4 in skeletal muscle. Like old muscles that were treated with ursolic acid and tomatidine, old muscles lacking ATF4 were resistant to the effects of aging.
"By reducing ATF4 activity, ursolic acid and tomatidine allow skeletal muscle to recover from effects of aging," says Adams, who also is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center and the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, and is a staff physician with the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Source : University of Iowa
Link to Source
Diet Rich in Tomatoes May Lower Breast Cancer Risk
A tomato-rich diet may help protect at-risk postmenopausal women from breast cancer, according to new research accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.Breast cancer risk rises in postmenopausal women as their body mass index climbs. The study found eating a diet high in tomatoes had a positive effect on the level of hormones that play a role in regulating fat and sugar metabolism.
“The advantages of eating plenty of tomatoes and tomato-based products, even for a short period, were clearly evident in our findings,” said the study’s first author, Adana Llanos, PhD, MPH, who is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Rutgers University. Llanos completed the research while she was a postdoctoral fellow with Electra Paskett, PhD, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. “Eating fruits and vegetables, which are rich in essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals such as lycopene, conveys significant benefits. Based on this data, we believe regular consumption of at least the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables would promote breast cancer prevention in an at-risk population.”
The longitudinal cross-over study examined the effects of both tomato-rich and soy-rich diets in a group of 70 postmenopausal women. For 10 weeks, the women ate tomato products containing at least 25 milligrams of lycopene daily. For a separate 10-week period, the participants consumed at least 40 grams of soy protein daily. Before each test period began, the women were instructed to abstain from eating both tomato and soy products for two weeks.
When they followed the tomato-rich diet, participants’ levels of adiponectin – a hormone involved in regulating blood sugar and fat levels – climbed 9 percent. The effect was slightly stronger in women who had a lower body mass index.
“The findings demonstrate the importance of obesity prevention,” Llanos said. “Consuming a diet rich in tomatoes had a larger impact on hormone levels in women who maintained a healthy weight.”
The soy diet was linked to a reduction in participants’ adiponectin levels. Researchers originally theorized that a diet containing large amounts of soy could be part of the reason that Asian women have lower rates of breast cancer than women in the United States, but any beneficial effect may be limited to certain ethnic groups, Llanos said
Source : Newswisw
Link to Source
Tomato Juice can Reduce Osteoporosis
Tomato juice can significantly increase the presence of cell-protecting antioxidants that help to fight against osteoporosis, according to new research.
Writing in Osteoporosis International, calcium researchers at the University of Toronto (UT) claim that 30mg of lycopene found in tomatoes – the equivalent to two glasses of tomato juice – is enough to help prevent the brittle-bone disease.
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Research and Development Departments of Genuine Health, Heinz, Millenium Biologix, Kagome (Japan), and LycoRed.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is characterised by low bone mass, which leads to an increase risk of fractures, especially the hips, spine and wrists. An estimated 75 million people suffer from it in Europe, the US and Japan.
Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men and previous research indicates that diabetes decreases bone turnover that is associated with impaired osteoblastic maturation and function.
According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the total direct cost of osteoporotic fractures in Europe is €31.7bn so boosting bone density in high-risk and post-menopausal women could ease the burden of osteoporosis.
Lycopenes
Lycopene is the red pigment in tomatoes and several fruits. According to the UT scientists, it is a potent carotenoid – a group of naturally occurring pigments essential for plant growth – with a high ability to quench singlet oxygen.
Due to this ability to decrease oxidative stress, lycopene has been associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases.
The researchers claims that to date, no intervention studies have been published demonstrating the effect of the antioxidant lycopene on bone, and that the aim of the study thus was to determine whether lycopene would act as an antioxidant to decrease oxidative stress parameters that result in decreased bone turnover markers.
Methodology and results
Post-menopausal women aged 50 to 60 were restricted from consuming anything containing lycopene for a month.
The participants were split into four groups over four months. Each group of participants either consumed a 15mg lycopene supplement, a glass of tomato juice naturally containing 15mg of lycopene, a gourmet Japanese tomato juice with 35mg of lycopene or a placebo.
Serum collected after the washout, 2 and 4 months of supplementation, was assayed for cross-linked aminoterminal N-telopeptide, carotenoid content, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid, and protein oxidation, added the authors.
By the end of the initial lycopene-free month, in every participant, "There was an increased reobsorption of bone. In other words, within a month, the participants were more prone to the risk of osteoporosis," says Leticia Rao, director of the Calcium Research Laboratory who conducted the study.
After four months, results showed that lycopene-supplementation had significantly increased serum lycopene compared to the placebo group.
The lycopene groups had significantly increased antioxidant capacity, decreased oxidative stress parameters and decreased bone reobsorption markers.
The results of the study, concluded the researchers, showed a significant increase in serum lycopene after supplementation with juice or lycopene based capsules, which resulted in a decrease in the bone resorption marker NTx in postmenopausal women:
“This reduction in NTx may be due to the ability of the absorbed lycopene to reduce the oxidative stress parameters in these women. Our findings are the first to show that lycopene intervention, given in capsule or juice form, supplying at least 30 mg/day, may decrease the risk of osteoporosis by decreasing oxidative stress and bone resorption.”
Source : Nutraingredients USA
LINK TO SOURCE