Lycopene May Improve Women's Heart Health

ATLANTA--The Vitamin Nutrition Information Service (VNIS) announced that lycopene has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease in women, according to a new study conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers in Boston. The study, compiled from data from the Women's Health Study, was presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (www.acc.org).

Researchers analyzed nearly 1,000 blood samples, approximately half from women who developed cardiovascular disease--the No. 1 cause of death for women--and the remainder from women who did not. After coronary risk factors, such as history of high cholesterol and physical inactivity, were taken into account, researchers noted that women with the highest plasma lycopene levels demonstrated a 33 percent lower risk for developing cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest levels.

"This is the first large-scale study to examine the role that lycopene may play in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease exclusively in women," said lead researcher Howard Sesso, Sc.D., instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of epidemiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The body of research on lycopene in other conditions such as prostate cancer is more advanced, but the 33 percent risk reduction in our study has compelled us to further investigate lycopene's power in combating heart disease."

Previous research has also linked lycopene with a reduced risk of heart disease, as indicated by a review compiled by researchers at the University of Toronto. They demonstrated that serum and tissue lycopene levels are inversely related with chronic disease risk and noted that dietary intakes of tomatoes and tomato products that contain lycopene were associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (J Am Coll Nutr, 19,5: 563-9, 2000). In addition, the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor, conducted by Finnish researchers, indicated that low serum levels of lycopene may be associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic vascular events (Br J Nutr, 85, 6:749-54, 2001).

"There are no dietary recommendations for lycopene," said Michael Gaziano, M.D., director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and author of the Harvard lycopene study. "Yet the research suggests that women should aim to consume more lycopene-rich foods as a prudent measure in the prevention of chronic diseases."