Tomato lycopene may support bone health

Israel’s LycoRed says it is greatly encouraged by recently released results of a USDA funded study investigating the role of carotenoids, and particularly, tomato lycopene benefits, in preventing osteoporosis.

In the January 2009 online edition of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, researchers from Tufts University, Hebrew SeniorLife and Boston University studied subjects that had participated in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study over 15 years ago.

The subjects, 370 men and 576 women, completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1988-89 and were followed for hip fracture until 2005 and for non-vertebral fracture until 2003.

Subjects with higher lycopene intake had lower risk of both hip fracture and non-vertebral fracture, leading the researchers to believe that lycopene may be protective against fractures in this population of elderly Caucasian men and women.