Tomatoes in diet may reduce hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk

Tomatoes is an important ingredient in most foods and salads, its the major dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to many health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.

Including tomato in daily diet, tomato-based products, is effective in preventing and managing hypertension. Higher tomato intake reduces hypertension risk by 36%, and moderate consumption lowers blood pressure, especially in grade 1 hypertension according to study findings published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The current study assesses whether tomato consumption (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is associated with Systolic (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), and the risk of hypertension in a prospective 3-year longitudinal study in older adults at high cardiovascular risk. Clinical studies report conflicting evidence on the effects of the consumption of tomatoes on blood pressure, and there are limited data from epidemiologic studies.

Researchers in the study carried out within the PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) trial involving 7,056 (82.5% hypertensive) participants. The consumption of tomato (g/d) was measured using a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and categorized into 4 groups: lowest (<44 g), intermediate (44-82 g), upper-intermediate (82 -110 g), and highest (>110 g). Multilevel linear mixed models examined blood pressure and tomato consumption association. Cox proportional-hazards models analyzed hypertension risk in 1,097 non-hypertensive participants, studying risk reductions versus the lowest tomato consumers.

The key findings of the study are

• An inverse association between tomato consumption and diastolic blood pressure was observed between the intermediate group β = -0.65 mmHg [95% CI:-1.20, -0.10] and the lowest consumption group.

• A significant inverse association was observed for blood pressure in grade 1 hypertension participants in the intermediate tomato consumption group.

• The risk of hypertension decreased with consumption of >110 g/d tomato (highest vs lowest consumption; HR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.51–0.89]).

Researchers concluded that “Tomato consumption, including tomato-based products, is beneficial in preventing and managing hypertension. Higher tomato intake reduces hypertension risk by 36%, and moderate consumption lowers blood pressure, especially in grade 1 hypertension.”

Reference: David Murcia-Lesmes, Inés Domínguez-López, Emily P Laveriano-Santos, Anna Tresserra-Rimbau, Sara Castro-Barquero, Ramón Estruch, Zenaida Vazquez-Ruiz, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Cristina Razquin, Dolores Corella, Jose V Sorli, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Karla-Alejandra Pérez-Vega, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, José Lapetra, Fernando Arós, Miquel Fiol, Luis Serra-Majem, Xavier Pinto, Emilio Ros, Rosa M Lamuela-Raventós, Association between tomato consumption and blood pressure in an older population at high cardiovascular risk: observational analysis of PREDIMED trial, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2023;, zwad363, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwad363.