Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Tomatoes are good for you but like all fruits and vegetables, the power and majesty is in the seed! What is great about tomato seed oil? It protects against radiation damage, it lowers cholesterol, it inhibits oxidative stress in macrophages enabling optimal immune function and it attenuates hyperlipidity. Read all about it!
J Diet Suppl. 2018 Nov 2;15(6):923-938.
doi: 10.1080/19390211.2017.1406427. Epub 2018 Jan 16.
Magda K Ezz 1, Nashwa K Ibrahim 2, Mahmoud M Said 1, Mostafa A Farrag 2
Abstract
Radiation protection research receives intense focus due to its significant impact on human health. The present study was undertaken to investigate the protective effect of pretreatment with tomato seed oil (TSO) against gamma radiation-induced damage in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: (1) untreated control; (2) TSO-supplemented; (3) gamma-irradiated; (4) TSO-pretreated and gamma-irradiated.
Acute exposure of animals to a single gamma radiation dose (6 Gy) induced oxidative stress in major body organs, altered serum lipid homeostasis, significantly increased serum testosterone and sorbitol dehydrogenase levels, and elicited a systemic inflammation as manifested by the induction of serum vascular cell adhesion molecule-1.
Oral pretreatment with TSO (1 ml/kg; 3 times/week for 8 weeks) before exposure to gamma radiation protected rats against ionizing radiation-induced oxidative stress, restored lipid homeostasis, and suppressed systemic inflammation. Histological findings of target tissues verified biochemical data. The radioprotective ability of TSO was attributed to its content of phytosterols, policosanol, and antioxidants, including lycopene, β-carotene, lutein, and tocopherols.
TSO is considered a promising radioprotective agent that can be effectively used to protect the body from the damaging effects of harmful radiation.
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J Agric Food Chem. 2013 Jan 16;61(2):346-54.
doi: 10.1021/jf302748z. Epub 2013 Jan 3.
Antioxidant capacity of tomato seed oil in solution and its redox properties in cultured macrophages
Lars Müller 1, Assunta Catalano, Rossella Simone, Achille Cittadini, Kati Fröhlich, Volker Böhm, Paola Palozza
Abstract
The health benefits of tomato seed oil (TSO) have been suggested to be related to its antioxidant activity, although at the moment not much information is available on the antioxidant effects of TSO in biological systems. In this paper, we evaluated the antioxidant capacity of TSO using different spectrophotometrical antioxidant assays (LPSC, FRAP, αTEAC, DPPH). Moreover, we determined the ability of TSO in inhibiting oxidative stress in human cultured macrophages.The peroxyl radical scavenging LPSC assay was the most sensitive assay to detect the antioxidant capacity of the TSO, followed by the DPPH, FRAP, and αTEAC assay. TSO was able to counteract spontaneous and H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in human macrophages, limiting intracellular ROS production and controlling oxidative stress signaling. In particular, TSO was able to decrease the phosphorylation of the MAPK ERK1/2, JNK, and p-38, activation of the redox-sensitive NF-kB, and expression of the heat shock proteins 70 and 90. When the antioxidant capacity of TSO was compared with that of purified lycopene, inhibition of ROS production by TSO was remarkably higher. This was due to the high content of other antioxidants in TSO, including (5Z)-, (9Z)-, (13Z)-, and (15Z)-lycopene isomers, β-carotene, lutein, γ-tocopherol, and α-tocopherol.
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Molecules. 2021 Jul 26;26(15):4495.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26154495.
Valentina Noemi Madia 1, Daniela De Vita 2, Davide Ialongo 1, Valeria Tudino 1, Alessandro De Leo 1, Luigi Scipione 1, Roberto Di Santo 1, Roberta Costi 1, Antonella Messore 1
Abstract
Growing attention to environmental protection leads food industries to adopt a model of “circular economy” applying safe and sustainable technologies to recover, recycle and valorize by-products. Therefore, by-products become raw material for other industries. Tomato processing industry produces significant amounts of by-products, consisting of skins and seeds. Tomato skin is very rich in lycopene, and from its seeds, high nutritional oil can be extracted. Alternative use of the two fractions not only could cut disposal costs but also allow one to extract bioactive compounds and an oil with a high nutritional value. This review focused on the recent advance in extraction of lycopene, whose beneficial effects on health are widely recognized.
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Food Funct. 2020 May 1;11(5):4275-4290.
doi: 10.1039/d0fo00133c. Epub 2020 May 1.
Tomato seed oil attenuates hyperlipidemia and modulates gut microbiota in C57BL/6J mice
Wen-Sen He 1, Lingling Li, Jiaxin Rui, Junjie Li, Yuying Sun, Dandan Cui, Bin Xu
Abstract
In this study we aimed to investigate the role of tomato seed oil (TSO) in the alleviation of hyperlipidemia and the regulation of gut microbiota in C57BL/6J mice. Mice were divided into the following four diet-based groups: low-fat diet (LF, n = 8), high-fat diet (HF, n = 6), HF diet with TSO replacing one-third of lard (TL, n = 8), and HF diet with TSO replacing two-thirds of lard (TH, n = 8). The results showed that TH significantly reduced weight gain, relative adipose tissue weights, plasma cholesterol, triacylglycerol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), ratio of LDL-C to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hepatic cholesterol, and total fatty acids, and markedly increased plasma HDL-C. TSO supplementation also dose-dependently increased fecal cholesterol excretion and reduced fecal total fatty acids. This was accompanied by upregulation of the gene expression of hepatic PPARα, ACADL, CYP7A1, LXRα, ABCA1, and SR-B1. Metagenomic analyses demonstrated that TSO tended to reduce the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, significantly increased the relative abundance of the genus Lactobacillus, and reduced the relative abundance of the genera Rikenella, Enterorhabdus, unclassified_o_Clostridiales and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-009. These results proved that TSO was effective in attenuating hyperlipidemia in C57BL/6J mice by enhancing fatty acid β-oxidation, reducing cholesterol absorption, promoting cholesterol efflux, and favorably modulating the gut microbiota.
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Food Chem. 2013 Aug 15;139(1-4):589-96.
doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.01.043. Epub 2013 Jan 29.
Dongyan Shao 1, Glenn E Bartley, Wallace Yokoyama, Zhongli Pan, Huijuan Zhang, Ang Zhang
Abstract
The cholesterol-lowering effects of tomato pomace (TP), tomato seed oil (TSO) and defatted tomato seed (DTS) were determined in male Golden Syrian hamsters. Hamsters fed high-fat diets containing 10% TSO or 18% DTS were compared to a diet containing 10% corn oil and 10% microcrystalline cellulose (control 1), 42% TP were compared to 25% microcrystalline cellulose (control 2). TP, TSO and DTS reduced hepatic total cholesterol (TC) content. DTS also lowered plasma TC and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations. Fecal excretion of lipid, bile acid and cholesterol increased in the DTS group compared to control 1. DTS-fed hamsters had higher levels of hepatic CYP7A1, CYP51, ABCB11, and ABCG5 gene expression than control, suggesting both hepatic bile acid and cholesterol synthesis increased due to increased fecal excretion of bile acid and cholesterol. The results suggest that protein, dietary fibre or phenolic compounds in DTS may be responsible for plasma cholesterol decrease.
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J Agric Food Chem. 2013 Jan 16;61(2):346-54.
doi: 10.1021/jf302748z. Epub 2013 Jan 3.
Antioxidant capacity of tomato seed oil in solution and its redox properties in cultured macrophages
Lars Müller 1, Assunta Catalano, Rossella Simone, Achille Cittadini, Kati Fröhlich, Volker Böhm, Paola Palozza
Abstract
The health benefits of tomato seed oil (TSO) have been suggested to be related to its antioxidant activity, although at the moment not much information is available on the antioxidant effects of TSO in biological systems. In this paper, we evaluated the antioxidant capacity of TSO using different spectrophotometrical antioxidant assays (LPSC, FRAP, αTEAC, DPPH). Moreover, we determined the ability of TSO in inhibiting oxidative stress in human cultured macrophages. The peroxyl radical scavenging LPSC assay was the most sensitive assay to detect the antioxidant capacity of the TSO, followed by the DPPH, FRAP, and αTEAC assay. TSO was able to counteract spontaneous and H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in human macrophages, limiting intracellular ROS production and controlling oxidative stress signaling. In particular, TSO was able to decrease the phosphorylation of the MAPK ERK1/2, JNK, and p-38, activation of the redox-sensitive NF-kB, and expression of the heat shock proteins 70 and 90. When the antioxidant capacity of TSO was compared with that of purified lycopene, inhibition of ROS production by TSO was remarkably higher. This was due to the high content of other antioxidants in TSO, including (5Z)-, (9Z)-, (13Z)-, and (15Z)-lycopene isomers, β-carotene, lutein, γ-tocopherol, and α-tocopherol.
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Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 Aug 19;55(8):499.
doi: 10.3390/medicina55080499.
Javid Kermani 1, Nader Goodarzi 2, Mitra Bakhtiari 3
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that can effectively influences male reproductive performance. The present study was conducted to investigate the protective effects of Solanum lycopersicum essential oil (SL) on diabetes-induced testicular injuries.
Conclusion: In conclusion, these findings reveal that the essential oil of Solanum lycopersicum has potent antioxidant properties and can attenuate the adverse effects of diabetes on male reproduction.