Relationship of the tomato intake amount recommended in MyPlate to cardiovascular disease risk reduction (630.1)

Abstract

Tomatoes comprise 82% of the USDA MyPlate red and orange vegetable subgroup modeled by the 2010 DGAC, translating to a daily recommendation of 0.8 cups tomatoes in a 2000 kcal diet. Tomatoes are the primary dietary lycopene source and intakes of tomatoes and/or lycopene are inversely correlated with chronic disease risk. The purpose of this study was to quantify the change in serum lycopene caused by consuming approximately the MyPlate‐recommended tomato quantity, and to estimate the disease risk reduction potentiated by this upward shift. Participants (n = 58, ages 35 ‐ 70, BMI 27 ‐ 37) were asked to consume two ½ cup equivalents/d of canned tomatoes, sauce, or paste as part of their usual diet for six weeks. The result was an upward shift of approximately one quartile of the lycopene distribution curve. In population studies assessing the relationship between lycopene and cardiovascular and/or stroke risk, interquartile risk reductions were 22% ‐ 42% between Q1 and Q2, 1% ‐ 22% between Q2 and Q3 and 6% ‐ 12% between Q3 and Q4. This comparison shows that a lycopene concentration shift of one quartile, which is observed when moving from usual tomato intake to the MyPlate recommended amount, is associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, especially in those with lowest initial serum lycopene concentrations.