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The story
A new study reports that a group who ate tomato paste every day for three months showed changes in both cognitive test scores and fMRI brain scans. Antioxidants found in tomatoes, such as lycopene, are thought to be involved. On 5ch, some praised the popularity of high-lycopene drinks and their fit with the Mediterranean diet, while others raised doubts about the study’s design — including the small number of participants and whether there was a proper control group — leaving opinions on the effect divided.
Study finds that eating tomato paste continuously for three months produces changes in cognitive function and brain scan images
Tomatoes are a popular food eaten worldwide, rich in nutrients including lycopene, the compound behind their red color.
A new study has reported that eating tomato paste continuously for three months leads to changes in cognitive function and brain scan images.
Source: mdpi.com / Original article here
What people said
The doctor was laughing at the simplistic idea of 'just eat this and you're fine.' A healthy diet should really be thought of as just a preventive habit.
…'load up on it'!? Wait, do you still have aftereffects from the stroke…?
Guess lycopene just has more marketing pull than other health claims? Though lately a lot of tomato juices are pushing GABA instead.
What bugs me is this paper doesn't touch on cholesterol at all — that's usually the first thing you'd expect them to mention. Makes me wonder if the results there just weren't great. A lot of other papers show pretty lukewarm effects on that front too.
Even if it's a struggle on the wallet, it's worth it if it makes something you're not that fond of easier to get down.
A diet like the Mediterranean one, which supplies good-quality oils and antioxidants, is genuinely great — it's effective against stroke too.
But you can't eat nothing but tomatoes and olive oil year-round, so the real question becomes how you keep getting non-hexane-extracted oils and antioxidants into your diet.
Honestly, just using good-quality oil and good-quality salt in traditional Japanese cooking already makes it pretty healthy. Add something that gives you polyphenols as an occasional treat, and your diet has nothing to worry about.
If you don't build health up from the cellular level as a foundation, patching things up with medication later just leads to polypharmacy problems.
Japanese people should strictly avoid overdoing it on fat, no matter what kind.
A sample of just 42 people is way too small.
No placebo group or dietary controls, so other factors aren't ruled out.
The cognitive tests did show a significant difference, but it's nowhere near dramatic rejuvenation or an IQ boost.
They're using blood tests and fMRI to probe cognition, but that alone can't confirm the effect.
And the source is GIGAZINE (lol) — classic clickbait headline.
I think if you do a straight taste test, the high-lycopene one just tastes better, so people keep buying it again.
Just post the whole thing, that'll make it clear!! Post it pretending to be someone else.
You eat it right now! Eat a whole heap of it! It works wonders on the brain!
Background and Key Points of Debate
The underlying paper was published in a journal put out by MDPI, a major open-access publisher also known for divided opinions on the rigor of its peer review. The main point of contention in the thread was the scale of the study — many raised doubts about the small number of participants and whether control conditions, such as a placebo group or dietary restrictions, were clearly specified. At the same time, some posts noted that many tomato juice buyers actively seek out high-lycopene products, pointing to real consumer interest in the topic. Commenters also noted that a news headline alone can’t tell you whether a “change” is good or bad — a reminder that topics like this can spread widely on the strength of a headline alone, without anyone checking the primary source, the paper itself.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “[Health] Study Finds Changes in Cognitive Function and Brain Scans After Eating Tomato Paste Daily for Three Months.”
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