Abstract A33: Pizza and pasta consumption levels in relation to lycopene and other antioxidant nutrients status among a low-income population in Southeast USA
Authors: Zhou Yuan Eva , Buchowski Maciej S. , Schlundt David G. , Blot William J. , Hargreaves Margaret K. 
Published: October 2015

Purpose: Lycopene is regarded as a promising antioxidant, potentially protective against chronic diseases such as certain cancers. Unlike other antioxidant nutrients, lycopene mostly comes from tomato based processed foods, rather than from fresh vegetables and fruits. Herein we examine whether foods rich in lycopene offer a full spectrum of antioxidant nutrients needed for chronic disease prevention.

Methods: Serum levels of lycopene and other antioxidant nutrients were measured in a representative cross-sectional sample of low-income Blacks (n=189) and Whites (n=183) age 40-79 years participating in the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS). Dietary intakes of lycopene, other nutrients, and individual foods were ascertained via a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

Results: Pizza and pasta showed the strongest correlation with dietary lycopene (adjusted for age and total calories, R spearman = 0.54, P&lt;0.0001), and were the only food sources significantly correlated with serum lycopene (adjusted for age and LDL-cholesterol, R spearman = 0.14, P=0.007). Across pizza and pasta consumption tertiles, estimated dietary lycopene intake increased from 4147±305 to 4983±287 to 8208±301 mcg (P&lt;.0001) per day while serum lycopene concentrations were 27.8±1.3, 32.7±1.3 and 32.0±1.2 mcg (P=.01). There were no significant differences in key socio-demographic and lifestyle variables, except for slightly younger age in the highest tertile. Total caloric intake increased substantially with tertiles of consumption of pizza and pasta, rising from 1965±18 to 2294±114 to 3242±114 kcal (P&lt;.0001). Adjusted for age and total calories, the consumption of protein, saturated fat, and trans fat were increased significantly at tertile 3 compared to tertile 1 and tertile 2 (e.g., saturated fat rose from 27.5±0.7 to 27.9±0.7 to 32.1±0.7 g, P&lt;.0001), whereas fiber and sugar intake levels did not differ significantly across the tertiles. For micronutrients, the sodium and sodium to potassium ratio were much higher in tertile 3 than those in tertile 1 and tertile 2 (e.g., sodium tertile levels were 4179±90, 4095±85, 4635±89 mg, P&lt;.0001). The majority of other antioxidant nutrients' intake levels, however, did not vary across tertiles, or even decreased significantly with higher intake of pizza and pasta (e.g., folate declined from 310.3±8.3 to 302.6±7.8 to 270.8±8.2 mcg, P=.003). Similarly, serum concentrations of other major antioxidants either did not change significantly or even decreased across tertiles of pizza and pasta (e.g., serum concentrations of carotene declined from 16.8±1.4 to 12.8±1.4 to 10.3±1.4 µg/dl, P=.0005).

Conclusion: In the current study, pizza and pasta were shown to be the main contributors to dietary lycopene and predictive of serum lycopene levels. Pizza and pasta as consumed by the SCCS participants, however, may offer less antioxidation protection than expected based on their lycopene content alone, since such meals provide higher calories, more unhealthy fat and less overall antioxidants.

Citation Format: Yuan Eva Zhou, Maciej S. Buchowski, David G. Schlundt, William J. Blot, Margaret K. Hargreaves. Pizza and pasta consumption levels in relation to lycopene and other antioxidant nutrients status among a low-income population in Southeast USA. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr A33.