A tomato a day to keep strokes at bay?

By 22. November 2012Blog, Health, Nutrition

We’ve all heard about how we should get our 5 a day to stay healthy, and that eating fruits high in antioxidants are good for us, but have you heard the news about tomatoes?

Researchers from Finland followed a group of men between the ages of 46-65 over an 8 year period measuring the level of carotenes including lycopene (the bright red carotene responsible for the colour of tomatoes) in their blood in the first two years and incidence of stroke after that. They found people with high levels of lycopene in their blood, had a 55% lower chance of having a stroke compared to people who had lower levels in their blood.  There was no correlation between ß-carotene and strokes.

The paper is published in the journal Neurology