How Tomatoes Improve Sperm Quality, Bone Mass

 reports on how eating cooked and fried tomatoes can resolve infertility in men, brittle bone disease and menstrual problems in women among other diseases.

CAN eating large portions of 'stew' made by frying ground tomatoes in oil improve sperm quality and bone mass? Yes! Researchers suggest that high consumption of tomatoes may be the panacea to infertility in men and osteoporosis or brittle bone disease in women.

Several studies have associated eating cooked tomatoes with better treatment outcomes in prostrate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases.

Lycopene is the most abundant carotenoid in tomatoes. Carotenoids are antioxidants found in green and yellow-orange and red fruits and vegetables. Other carotenoids in tomatoes include gamma carotene, zeta-carotene, phytofluene, phytoene, neurosporene, and lutein.

Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals or reactive oxygen species (ROS). The beneficial effects of plant antioxidants on human health have been documented. They have been shown to stop and in some cases reverse the damage caused by free radicals or ROS such as infertility, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes among other degenerative diseases.

Indeed, researchers have been able to establish in recent studies that when lycopene was administered twice daily for three months to men with oligoasthenospermia (severely depressed sperm count), they showed an improvement in sperm concentration, motility and morphology.

They have also shown that lycopene-treated osteoclasts (bone resorbing) were inhibited from fusing into multinucleated cells. In addition, lycopene decreases resorption pits and stimulates the proliferation of osteoblasts (bone forming).

A pharmacist and an advocate of herbal medicine at the College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL), Idi-Araba, Dr. Olukemi Odukoya, says: " Oxidative stress or ROS is associated with the ageing process, as well as, with many diseases, such as infertility in men, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis or brittle bone disease, cancer, including prostate cancer, and diabetes mellitus. In the eye, photo-oxidative stress results in cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. In the skin, sunburn, skin ageing, photosensitivity disorders, and skin cancer can result".

Odukoya says most of these disease conditions can be corrected, reversed or stopped by using antioxidants, which are replete in tomatoes and most fruits and vegetables.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr. Ugochukwu Celestine Chukwunenye of Optimal Specialist Hospital, Surulere, Lagos, highlights some work associating lycopene with beneficial effects on women's health. He emphasises the strong link between diet and chronic disease. He states that there is a need to focus on preventive care from a health and financial perspective. " Prudent advice is to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables," he says.

A nutritionist at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr. Rosemary Chinyere Anyanwu, says the process of heating raw tomatoes increases the amount of cis-lycopene, and this isomer may be more available to the body.

She explains: " There is individual variability in carotenoid absorption that is tied to triglyceride absorption. Therefore, the food containing lycopene must be administered with fat (oil) for absorption to occur. The level of lycopene in food that increases blood lycopene levels is 5-7 mg. It is impossible to separate the effect of vitamin C and lycopene in the tomato, since tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C. This means that the emphasis should be on the consumption of a whole food rather than a single component, since food components work in concert.

"The variability of lycopene content in tomatoes is quite high. The level varies from species to species, and there are seasonal differences. Generally, redder tomatoes are higher in lycopene".

Dr. Narmada Gupta of the All India Institute of Medicine, New Delhi, in a recent study titled 'Role of Lycopene in Male Infertility, ' says the pathogenesis of seminal oxidative stress is due to an imbalance of ROS versus antioxidants.

Gupta in his study administered 2000 microgrammes of lycopene twice daily for three months to men with oligoasthenospermia . Results showed an improvement in sperm concentration, motility and morphology. Low levels of ROS in semen appear to have a physiological role in the regulation of sperm function. High levels endanger sperm function and viability. He, however, says a large multi-centre randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial is needed.

He explains: " Abnormal ROS generation, abnormal spermatozoa and seminal leukocytes cause cellular damage. The effect on semen is a lower sperm count, as well as, abnormal motility and morphology. High levels of ROS are found in 25-40 per cent of infertile men. The ROS.TAC score is an index for the assessment of oxidative stress in infertile men. ROS refers to the measurement of reactive oxygen species by chem-iluminescence assay, and TAC refers to the measurement of total antioxidant capacity. Fertile men have a higher TAC.

" Oxidative stress has clinical significance in the following areas: idiopathic oligoasthenospermia , following varicocele (enlargement of the veins of the spermatic cord) surgery, in cigarette smokers, and in the preparation of sperm for artificial reproductive techniques. To reduce oxidative stress, there are sperm washing techniques, and oral vitamin E, vitamin C, glutathione, and lycopene can be administered.

" Lycopene is found in the testes and seminal plasma. In 1996, it was reported that there is higher ROS and lower lycopene in immuno-infertile men".

Dr. Leticia Rao of St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, has a clinical study underway that will test the effects of lycopene on bone turnover markers.

Rao says ROS affects bone cells by decreasing osteoblast function and increasing osteoclast activity. Rao hypothesises that lycopene inhibits ROS. She is studying the effect of lycopene on bone cells in the laboratory.

" Osteoclasts fuse to grow larger. Lycopene-treated osteoclasts are inhibited from fusing into multinucleated cells. In addition, lycopene decreases resorption pits. Lycopene also stimulates the proliferation of osteoblasts" , she says.

Rao states that postmenopausal women with high oxidative stress parameters and low antioxidant status will have high bone turnover markers (proteins that spill into the urine when bone resorption occurs).

Dr. Joseph Levy, Ben-Gurion University, Be'er-Sheva, Israel, has established the role of lycopene and other tomato carotenoids in breast and endometrial cancers.

Levy is studying whether lycopene and tomato carotenoids protect mammary and endometrial cells from the deleterious effects of estrogens. "Lycopene inhibits estradiol stimulation of hormone-dependent malignant cells. The mechanism by which it works is in the cell cycle. Estrogen, androgen and IGF-1 regulate cell division. Antiestrogens and lycopene inhibit a key protein in cell cycle regulation, Cyclin D, that is over-expressed in cancer cells. Also, various carotenoids inhibit estradiol-induced estrogenic receptor activity in cancer cells", he says.

Levy states that it is important to note that no one carotenoid is the magic bullet. "No single active ingredient is a cure or will prevent cancer. The beneficial effects of diet are related to a concerted action of several constituents. While single carotenoids and single phytonutrients show a small beneficial effect; when they are combined, they show a synergistic effect. Including tomato phytonutrients in HRT may decrease the risk of breast cancer and augment bone formation".

Anyanwu further explains: "In the body, lycopene is oxidised to two metabolites, and these metabolites have more chemopreventive action than the lycopene itself. The oxidative metabolites have been found in human serum, milk, organs (liver, lung, breast, prostate, colon) and skin. In addition, the combination of carotenoids is more effective in the prevention of cancer than single carotenoids.

" Lycopene's cancer chemopreventive mechanism involves anti-inflammatory properties and protection against oxidative damage, as well as enhancement of the expression of gap proteins (gap proteins are involved in the communication among cells; cancer cells cannot communicate with themselves or other cells). Inflammation is associated with tumour production. Lycopene and lutein inhibit induced skin inflammation. This may be linked to their antioxidant activity.

" In addition to cancer prevention, carotenoids may also prevent some eye diseases. Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in adults over 40 years of age. Twenty-five per cent of 65 year-olds have clinical evidence of the disease that has no cure and is progressive.

" Carotenoids are present in the eye and eye structures. The ciliary body maintains pressure in the eye, and is responsible for the expansion and contraction of the lens. Substantial lycopene is present in the ciliary body and may act as an antioxidant. In the iris and lens, the carotenoids probably filter out phototoxic short-wave visible light and may play a role in the prevention of cataracts".

Lycopene has been found in lung tissue, and carotenoids appear to play a role in its defense systems. A high dietary intake of lycopene, reflected by increases in the lung tissue, is correlated with lower lung cancer risk and higher lung function. Cystic fibrosis patients were found to have depressed plasma lycopene levels.

Dr. Yoav Sharoni, Ben-Gurion University, Be'er-Sheva, Israel, says of all the carotenoids, lycopene is the most effective quencher of singlet oxygen (ROS). Skin lycopene is destroyed preferentially over beta-carotene with ultraviolet (UV) exposure, evidence that it is a primary defence.

Photo-oxidative stress, especially UV light affects the eyes and the skin. UV light results in the formation of ROS and peroxyl radicals that damage DNA, lipids and proteins. Antioxidants such as lycopene can prevent this damage.

Sunscreen provides exogenous photo-protection for the skin. People tend to use sunscreen only on vacation, yet sunlight exposure occurs more often. In fact, only one-third of sunlight exposure occurs while on vacation.

Sharoni describes a study in which nine volunteers with skin type II (burns easily, tans minimally) were given 40 grammes of tomato paste with olive oil per day providing 16 mg lycopene for a period of 10 weeks. Serum and skin levels of carotenoids and erythema formation (sunburn reaction) were measured. Results showed that at week 10, erythema formation was 40 per cent lower in the treatment group. This was a preliminary, small study that needs to be replicated.

In another study, the sun-protective effects of lycopene versus tomato products were tested to investigate if the photo-protective effects were a result of lycopene or other compounds in tomatoes. Results demonstrated a 25 per cent protection when synthetic lycopene was administered for 12 weeks, a better effect when Lyc-O-Mate capsules were given, and an even better effect (50 per cent protection) when a Lyc-o-Mate drink was administered.

Sharoni says: " This lends support to the synergistic effect of phytonutrients in tomatoes. Phytoene and phytofluene in addition to lycopene were present in the drink and Lyc-O-Mate capsules versus the pure lycopene capsules. One explanation for the better protection in the products that contained phytoene and phytofluene has to do with the absorption spectra of these two compounds. Phytoene and phytofluene reduce exposure to UVB and UVA light.

"Tomato-derived products therefore provide endogenous protection against UV-induced sunburn. Phytoene, phytofluene, and lycopene are the bioactive components that act synergistically to provide protection".