Introduction: This present study aims to evaluate the beneficial effect of tomatoes, a rich source of lycopene, which is a relatively new carotenoid known to play an important role in human health and disease.
Methods: We investigated the lipid peroxidation rate by estimating malondialdehyde (MDA), levels of serum enzymes involved in antioxidant activities such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, reduced glutathione and lipid profile, which includes total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein in a coronary heart disease (CHD) group and an age-matched control group.
Results: We observed significantly lower levels of serum antioxidant enzymes and very high lipid peroxidation rate in the CHD group, when compared to the controls (p-value is less than 0.001). At the same time, we observed significantly higher levels of lipids in the CHD group, when compared to the controls (p-value is less than 0.001). 60 days of tomato supplementation in the CHD group showed a significant improvement in the levels of serum enzymes involved in antioxidant activities and decreased lipid peroxidation rate (p-value is less than 0.001), but there were no significant changes in lipid profile (p-value is greater than 0.10).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that tomato lycopene may have considerable therapeutic potential as an antioxidant but may not be used as a hypolipidaemic agent in CHD.