Carotenoids may halve metabolic syndrome risk

By Stephen Daniells

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Metabolic syndrome Nutrition Antioxidant

Increased intakes of antioxidant carotenoids, and particularly lycopene, may reduce the risk of developing the metabolic syndrome by about 50 per cent, says a new study.

Writing in the new issue of the Journal of Nutrition​, Dutch scientists report that middle-aged and elderly men with highest average intake of all carotenoids had a 58 per cent lower incidence of metabolic syndrome, while the highest intake of lycopene was associated with a 45 per cent lower incidence, compared to men with the lowest average intakes.

A potentially protective effect was also observed for beta-carotene intakes, report the researchers, led by Ivonne Sluijs from the University Medical Center Utrecht.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition characterised by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and CVD.

Fifteen per cent of adult Europeans are estimated to be affected by MetS, while the US statistic is estimated to be a whopping 32 per cent. Obesity is established to be the main risk factor for MetS.

“Higher total carotenoid, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and lycopene intakes were associated with lower waist circumferences and visceral and subcutaneous fat mass,”​ wrote Sluijs and her co-workers. “Higher lycopene intake was related to lower serum triglyceride concentrations,” ​they added.

The findings were based on data from a population-based, cross-sectional study involving 374 men aged between 40 and 80, 22 per cent of whom had metabolic syndrome. Intakes of the carotenoids, including alpha- and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

Sluijs and her co-workers report that high intakes of all these compounds was associated with lower incidence of the syndrome, and that lycopene and beta-carotene in particular were linked to apparent protective effects.

“In conclusion, higher total carotenoid intakes, mainly those of beta-carotene and lycopene, were associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome and with lower measures of adiposity and serum triglyceride concentrations in middle-aged and elderly men,”​ wrote the researchers.

Source: Journal of Nutrition​ May 2009, Volume 139, Number 5, Pages 987-992, doi:10.3945/jn.108.101451“Dietary Carotenoid Intake Is Associated with Lower Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Middle-Aged and Elderly Men”​ Authors: I. Sluijs, J.W.J. Beulens, D.E. Grobbee, Y.T. van der Schouw

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