According to a randomized clinical trial published in the journal Antioxidants, eating 35 grams of tomato paste daily for three months enhanced selective attention and a slight boost in associative memory in healthy middle-aged adults, providing the first clinical link between the antioxidant lycopene and functional brain connectivity.
How Lycopene Crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier
Red tomatoes contain lycopene, a potent antioxidant capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to help reduce neuroinflammation, according to researchers. Led by nutritionist Ricardo López-Solís from the University of Barcelona in Spain, the team investigated how a single ‘tomato intervention’ impacts the cognitive outcomes of healthy adults. Yet, while human and mouse investigations have previously associated lycopene concentrations with reduced incidences of liver disease, heart disease, and lung and prostate cancers, this fresh experiment pivots its attention straight toward brain function.
During the crossover trial, 42 middle-aged adults avoided lycopene-rich foods—such as tomato, watermelon, papaya, grapefruit, or guava—for one week before beginning two distinct three-month dietary phases. Blood tests revealed that lycopene concentrations increased markedly on the tomato diet, accompanied by a borderline increase in a brain-growth protein called BDNF. Participants acted as their own controls, cycling through the tomato intervention and a low-lycopene diet separated by a one-month ‘washout’ period.
Brain Scans Reveal Network Reorganization
Brain imaging scans conducted on a smaller cohort of 14 participants revealed tentative changes in resting-state connectivity across large-scale neural networks. When eating a diet high in lycopene, participants showed reduced resting connectivity in the frontoparietal and auditory networks. In contrast, researchers noted diminished resting-state connectivity within dorsal attention networks during periods when participants followed a low-tomato diet.
“Together,” the authors write, “these neural changes suggest that tomato intake promotes functional reorganization of large-scale brain networks, enhancing neural efficiency and adaptability through the pruning of redundant cross-network interactions,” the study authors write in Antioxidants. These adaptations mirror neurological shifts typically observed after interventions to train a person’s working memory.
Pro Tip: Ohio State University nutritionist Rachel Kopec noted during a past interview with The New York Times that the thermal energy used in preparing tomatoes breaks down their cellular walls, thereby increasing the bioavailability of lycopene. Incorporating a simple spoonful of tomato paste can add a hearty dose to any meal.
Methodology Limitations and Previous Research
Despite the promising cognitive boosts in selective attention and a slight boost in associative memory, researchers note specific methodological constraints. Because the experiment was conducted without blinding—meaning both the subjects and the investigators were aware of who consumed the tomato paste—it remains possible that participants’ awareness of their assigned regimen influenced their enthusiasm or performance during cognitive assessments. Additionally, the neuroimaging evaluation relied on a modest sample size, lacked statistical power, and utilized a more permissive significance threshold than the researchers’ pre-established correction protocol.
These present results align generally with an earlier pilot investigation involving older individuals, where consuming a food rich in carotenoid tomato powder over an eight-week duration enhanced working memory, attention, and processing speed relative to a control substance. Meanwhile, a distinct crossover study spanning five weeks demonstrated that a mixed-berry beverage enriched with tomato powder enhanced working memory among older adults, though it produced no effect on selective attention—an inconsistency that the investigators propose might stem from learning effects due to repeated exposure to identical cognitive evaluations.
Did You Know? In fact, cooked tomatoes may provide more lycopene than raw ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does cooking tomatoes destroy their lycopene content?
No. Even when you cook them into a sauce, these key ingredients remain. In fact, cooked tomatoes may provide more lycopene than raw ones.
How much tomato paste did participants eat in the study?
Can we prove cause and effect between tomatoes and brain health?
Ultimately, extended evaluations involving larger cohorts will be required to ascertain whether the brain alterations linked to tomato paste persist over the long term or translate into clinically significant neurological benefits.
Want to stay updated on the latest nutritional science and brain health research? Subscribe to our newsletter or explore our nutrition archive for more evidence-based reporting.
Keep reading