It could save your life and it's already in your kitchen

Added: (Mon Jul 21 2008)

Pressbox (Press Release) - A new experimental study, just published in the scientific journal "Nutrition" shows that lycopene, the principal antioxidant present in tomatoes, may be just as effective as statins to prevent the formation of arterial placques, which are a major forerunner of coronary heart disease.

The study compared the effect of lycopene or fluvastatin on several blood factors known to be associated with placque formation.The improvements brought about by lycopene were at least equal to those of the statin, but unlike the latter, lycopene also reduced the level of oxidised cholesterol, the form in which it is most dangerous.

A full and clearly written explanation of how tomatoes, the most plentiful suppy of lycopene in the human diet, could exert such amazing effects is provided in the paperback "THe Red Bodyguard"(Icon Books £5.95). In it , the author pharmacist Ron Levin provides ample scientifically backed evidence to explain just how a modest regular consumption of tomato dishes can seriously help safeguard our health against major chronic and life threatening diseases and conditions.

Writing recently in the Daily Telegraph, Chloe Rhodes said of the book "never has the case for the superfood crown been argued more pursuasively than it has now for the humble tomato"