Tomatoes can lower stroke risk
A tomato a day can lower your risk of getting a stroke.
The new study that came out on Monday revealed that eating tomatoes can lower the risk of having a stroke.
The study, published in the Neurology journal, showed that the vital element is lycopene, an antioxident, the AFP reported.
The Finnish research involved data from more than 1,031 middle-aged men, between ages of 46 and 65 who lived in Finland, the Huffingtonpost reported.
Researchers followed the subjects for an average of 12 years, according to the AFP. People who had the highest levels of lycopene in their blood had a 55 percent lower chance of suffering from a stroke.
“This study adds to the evidence that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of stroke,” emphasized study author Jouni Karppi, of the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio.
According to the National Institute of Health, lyco- pene is found at highest levels in fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, guavas and watermelons.
To give you an idea, a cup of tomato juice (240 ml) contains around 23 milligrams of lycopene, the Huffingtonpost reported.
At the end of the research period, 67 men suffered from a stroke. Men who had high lycopene levels had lesser incidence of stroke compared to men who had low lycopene levels. Of the 259 men with the highest levels of lycopene, 11 had a stroke; meanwhile, of the 258 men with the lowest levels of lycopene, 25 had a stroke, the Huffingtonpost reported.