每天兩杯番茄汁 有效防止骨質疏鬆

Two glasses of tomato juice a day strengthens bones and can ward off osteoporosis, say scientists. The key ingredient is thought to be the lycopene, the antioxidant already credited with cutting the risk of prostate cancer in men and protecting against heart disease.

科學家最新研究表明，每天喝兩杯番茄汁可以增強骨質，預防骨質疏鬆症。起關鍵作用的成分是番茄紅素，這種抗氧化劑已被確定可降低男性患前列腺癌和心臟病的風險。

資料圖:每天兩杯番茄汁 有效防止骨質疏鬆

Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada asked 60 post-menopausal women, aged 50 to 60, to cut out all tomato products from their diet for a month. This led to a significant increase in blood levels of N-telopeptide, a chemical released into the bloodstream when bone is being broken down.

加拿大多倫多大學的科學家讓60名年齡在50到60歲之間的絕經期婦女一個月戒食所有的番茄食品，結果發現她們血液中的氮末端胜鍵，一種骨折時釋放到血液中的化學物質，含量顯著提高。Then, for four months, the women were given a daily dose of standard tomato juice containing 15mg of lycopene, an enriched version with 35mg of lycopene, lycopene capsules or dummy capsules. This led to a significant drop in levels of N-telopeptide in women drinking either type of juice or taking the capsules. But there was no benefit in women taking the dummy capsules.

接下來的四個月中，這些婦女分別每天喝一份含15毫克番茄紅素的標準番茄汁，一份含35毫克番茄紅素的超標番茄汁，吃番茄素膠囊或者假膠囊（即不含番茄素的膠囊）。結果發現喝番茄汁和服用番茄紅素膠囊的人體內氮末端胜鍵的含量大大降低，而吃假膠囊的人沒有任何效果。

資料圖:每天兩杯番茄汁 有效防止骨質疏鬆

Standard supermarket juice was just as good as the lycopene-enriched one, said researchers.

科學家稱，喝標準番茄汁和喝番茄紅素含量超標的番茄汁效果一樣好。

Two glasses a day of tomato juice containing 15mg of lycopene could be enough to strengthen brittle bones, the journal Osteoporosis International reported.

國際骨質疏鬆雜誌因此得出結論，每天喝兩杯含15毫克番茄紅素的番茄汁足以強韌骨質，防止骨質疏鬆。