In a recent study published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, researchers found eating tomato sauce with meatballs piled on top could have a surprising downside.
This is because some of the anti-cancer benefits of tomatoes, specifically those from lycopene, could disappear when they’re eaten with iron-rich foods.
Iron is essential in our diet, performing such critical functions as allowing our bodies to produce energy and get rid of waste.
The study is from Ohio State University. One author is Rachel Kopec.
Carotenoids are plant pigments with antioxidant properties responsible for many bright red, yellow and orange pigments found in fruit and vegetables.
These include compound lycopene, which is found in abundance in tomatoes and also colors watermelon and pink grapefruit. Scientists have found several potential anti-cancer benefits of lycopene, including in prostate, lung and skin cancers.
In the study, the team analyzed the blood and digestive fluid of a small group of medical students after they consumed either a tomato extract-based shake with iron or one without iron.
They found lycopene levels in the body were much lower when the people drank the liquid meal mixed with an iron supplement, meaning there was less for the body to use in potentially beneficial ways.
The scientists say that it could be the meal with iron that oxidizes the lycopene, creating different products of metabolism than those followed in the study.
It’s also possible that iron interrupts the nice emulsified mix of tomato and fats that is critical for cells to absorb the lycopene.
It could turn it into a substance like separated salad dressing—oil on top and vinegar on the bottom—that won’t ever mix properly.
This finding could have implications every time a person is consuming something rich in lycopene and iron—say a Bolognese sauce or an iron-fortified cereal with a side of tomato juice.
People are probably only getting half as much lycopene from this as they would without the iron.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about common food oil in the U.S. could causes gene changes in the brain and findings of diet alone can strongly improve older people’s health.
For more information about diet and your health, please see recent studies about a new way to fight against diabetes: Vitamin D and results showing that unhealthy diet linked to this blinding eye disease in older people.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
