Lycopene May Reduce Stroke Risk
Eating tomatoes might help prevent strokes. In fact, a new Finnish study suggests that high blood levels of lycopene-an antioxidant found in tomatoes-may be associated with a significantly reduced risk of stroke, according to a
study from the journal
Neurology.
The analysis prospectively followed 1,031 men ages 46 to 55, measuring their blood levels of five antioxidants and recording incidents of stroke. There were 67 strokes over more than 12 years of follow-up, and strokes were more common among older men and those with diabetes. But even after controlling for these and other factors, men with the highest lycopene levels were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest, according to an article from The New York Times.