A. Lee et al., Consumption of tomato products with olive oil, but not sunflower oil increases the antioxidant activity of plasma, FREE RAD B, 29(10), 2000, pp. 1051-1055
Health benefits of lycopene from tomato products have been suggested to be
related to its antioxidant activity. Dietary fat may influence the absorpti
on and hence the plasma levels and antioxidant activity of lycopene. In the
present study, we have compared the effect of consumption of tomato produc
ts with extra-virgin olive oil vs, tomato products plus sunflower oil on pl
asma lycopene and antioxidant levels. Results show that the oil composition
does not affect the absorption of lycopene from tomato products because si
milar levels of plasma lycopene (mean +/- SD) were obtained on feeding toma
toes (providing approximately 46 mg lycopene/d) for 7 d with either olive o
il (0.66 +/- 0.26 vs 1.20 +/- 0.20 mu mol/l, p < .002) or sunflower oil (0.
67 +/- 0.27 vs. 1.14 <mu>mol/l, p < .001). However, consumption of tomato p
roducts with olive oil significantly raised the plasma antioxidant activity
(FRAP) from 930 +/- 150 to 1118 +/- 184 <mu>mol/l, p < .01) but no effect
was observed when the sunflower oil was used. The change (supplementation m
inus start values) in FRAP following the consumption of tomato products wit
h oil was significantly higher for olive oil (190 +/- 101) than for sunflow
er oil (-9.6 +/- 99, p < .005). In conclusion, the results of the study sho
w that consumption of tomato products with olive oil but not with sunflower
oil improves the antioxidant activity of the plasma. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci
ence Inc.