Unsalted tomato juice may help cut heart disease risk

Drinking unsalted tomato juice may lower blood pressure and cholesterol, benefitting those at risk of cardiovascular disease, a study has found.

For the research, published in Food Science & Nutrition, 184 male and 297 female participants were provided with as much unsalted tomato juice as they wanted throughout one year.

At the end of the study, blood pressure in 94 participants with untreated prehypertension or hypertension dropped significantly, according to the researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan.

The systolic blood pressure lowered from an average of 141.2 to 137.0 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure lowered from an average of 83.3 to 80.9 mmHg, researchers said.

LDL cholesterol levels in 125 participants with high cholesterol decreased from an average of 155.0 to 149.9 mg/dL. These beneficial effects were similar among men and women and among different age groups.

"To the best of our knowledge, the current study is the first to investigate the effects of tomato or tomato product intake on cardiovascular disease risk markers over the course of a year and over a wide age range," researchers said.