Scientists say a natural supplement made from tomatoes, taken daily, can stave off heart disease and strokes.

    The tomato pill contains an active ingredient from the Mediterranean diet - lycopene - that blocks "bad" LDL cholesterol that can clog the arteries.

    Ateronon, made by a biotechnology spin-out company of Cambridge University, is being launched as a dietary supplement and will be sold on the high street.

    Experts said more trials were needed to see how effective the treatment is.

    Preliminary trials involving around 150 people with heart disease indicate that Ateronon can reduce the oxidation of harmful fats in the blood to almost zero within eight weeks, a meeting of the British Cardiovascular Society will be told at Ateronon's launch on Monday.

    Our advice to heart disease patients or those at high risk is to rely on proven medications prescribed by their doctor, and aim to get the benefits of a Mediterranean diet by eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg
Professor Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation

    Neuroscientist Peter Kirkpatrick, who will lead a further research project at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge on behalf of Cambridge Theranostics Ltd, said the supplement could be much more effective than statin drugs that are currently used by doctors to treat high cholesterol.

    But Professor Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said: "As always, we caution people to wait for any new drug or modified 'natural' product to be clinically proven to offer benefits before taking it.

    "It will take some time, and several clinical trials, to provide such evidence for Ateronon.

    "In the meantime, our advice to heart disease patients or those at high risk is to rely on proven medications prescribed by their doctor, and aim to get the benefits of a Mediterranean diet by eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg."

    He said the British Heart Foundation had supported some of the basic science at Cambridge University underpinning the development of the product.

    Professor Anthony Leeds, trustee of the cholesterol charity Heart UK, said: "The new lycopene product Ateronon represents an entirely new approach to the treatment of high blood cholesterol and opens up the exciting possibility."

    He said the preliminary findings were "very promising".

    Lycopene is an antioxidant contained in the skin of tomatoes which gives them their red colour. But lycopene ingested in its natural form is poorly absorbed.

    Ateronon contains a refined, more readily absorbed version of lycopene that was originally developed by Nestle.

    Dr Peter Coleman of The Stroke Association said: "We know that diets rich in antioxidants are beneficial in reducing the plaque build up and welcome the findings of this research."

    科學家報道每天服用由番茄做成的一種天然的膳食補充劑，可以避免心臟病和中風

    該番茄片含有地中海飲食-番茄紅素的活性成分，它能阻礙能堵塞動脈的“壞”的低密度脂蛋白膽固醇。

    Ateronon，是由劍橋大學的生物技術子公司研制的，作為一種膳食補充劑上市出售。

    專家稱還需要做很多的實驗來研究這種治療的有效性。

    150例心臟病患者的臨床試驗顯示Ateronon可以在8周內將血液中的有害的油脂的氧化物減少到零。

    神經科學家Peter Kirkpatrick，將會在劍橋的Addenbrooke醫院開展進一步的研究，他說這種補充劑可能會比目前臨床上使用的治療高膽固醇的斯達汀更有效。

    但是英國心臟基金會的皮特教授說：“我們提醒人們在服用新藥或者所謂的天然的產品前要有臨床的足夠證明，來證實有諸多好處。”

    “對于Ateronon來說，這方面的證明還需要時間來做大量的臨床試驗。”

    “同時，我們建議心臟病患者和那些高危人群服用醫生開的藥品，并且多吃新鮮的水果和蔬菜。”

    他說英國心臟基金會支持劍橋大學對于該產品的基礎性研究。

    Anthony Leeds教授，膽固醇英國慈善機構的l理事說：“新的番茄紅素產品-Ateronon 代表著治療高膽固醇病的新途徑，開啟了希望之門。”他說：“初步的結果是可喜得。”

    番茄紅素是一種抗氧化劑，存在于番茄的外皮，使番茄呈現紅色。但是，人體對番茄紅素的天然的形式吸收較差。Ateronon 中含有精致的更易吸收的番茄紅素的形式，這個最初是由雀巢公司研制的。

    中風協會的Peter Coleman 教授說：“我們知道富含抗氧化劑的食物有利于減少牙菌斑，同時接受這篇研究的結果。”