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Added: 10/28/2009
Increased intakes of antioxidant carotenoids, and particularly lycopene, may reduce the risk of developing the metabolic syndrome by about 50%, according to a new study.
Writing in the Journal of Nutrition, Dutch scientists report that middle-aged and elderly men with highest average intake of all carotenoids had a 58% lower incidence of metabolic syndrome, while the highest intake of lycopene was associated with a 45% lower incidence, compared to men with the lowest average intakes.
A potentially protective effect was also observed for beta-carotene intakes, report the researchers, led by Ivonne Sluijs from the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"Higher total carotenoid, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lycopene intakes were associated with lower waist circumferences and visceral and subcutaneous fat mass," wrote Sluijs and her co-workers. "Higher lycopene intake was related to lower serum triglyceride concentrations," they added.
The findings were based on data from a population-based, cross-sectional study involving 374 men aged between 40 and 80, 22% of whom had metabolic syndrome. Intakes of the carotenoids, including alpha- and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire.
Sluijs and her co-workers report that high intakes of all these compounds was associated with lower incidence of the syndrome, and that lycopene and beta-carotene in particular were linked to apparent protective effects.
"In conclusion, higher total carotenoid intakes, mainly those of beta-carotene and lycopene, were associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome and with lower measures of adiposity and serum triglyceride concentrations in middle-aged and elderly men," wrote the researchers.
Journal of Nutrition 139(5):987-992, 2009
