Ateronon®/TM is a once-a-day tablet formulation of tomato Lycopene that provides an effective inhibition of atherogenic lipid oxidation.
A Prescription Medical Food
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Ateronon provides Lycopene, which is the food component that is known to be effective for prevention of atherosclerosis and its clinical complications, but which is simply not present in sufficient bioavailable quantities in normal diets, even the Mediterranean diet.
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Ateronon is the only antioxidant that, to date, has been clinically proven to inhibit the atherogenic oxidation of lipids, and will be marketed with the claim “Clinically proven inhibitor of lipid oxidation”.
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Ateronon is to be marketed as a Prescription Medical Food in the US and in other territories that have similar regulatory categories.
Background
Diseases related to atherosclerosis, and the frequency of heart attacks are lower in populations that have a ‘Mediterranean diet’. Numerous clinical and epidemiological studies, have sought to identify the ‘active’ ingredient(s) in that diet, with a particular emphasis on the various anti-oxidant molecules found in foods. Much evidence points to the tomato as being the key component for reducing lipid-oxidation and specifically to the red pigment Lycopene, but the effectiveness of tomato-Lycopene has shown to be variable. This is now thought to be due to the bioavailability of Lycopene; levels of anti-atherogenic activity correlates strongly with the levels of Lycopene in plasma, but only weakly with the level of Lycopene in the diet. Lycopene is not efficiently absorbed when eaten as raw vegetable, but cooking in oil improves the bioavailability and a greater concentration in the body can be achieved using tomato pastes. However, whilst some health benefit can be obtained from such products, it is not possible to obtain strong benefits even from large amounts of such products.
Ateronon
Nestlé has developed a novel, proprietary formulation of Lycopene that has solved the problem of bioavailability1. It is this form of Lycopene that Nestlé has licensed to CTL and which is present in Ateronon. All ingredients of Ateronon are ‘Generally Regarded as Safe – GRAS’ and a single daily tablet of Ateronon provides more bioavailable Lycopene than a litre of tomato juice or 100g of tomato paste. Lycopene in this formulation is absorbed very efficiently and completely inhibits the atherogenic lipid oxidation process in all patients that have been studied. In contrast, tomato paste only partially inhibited the atherogenic lipid oxidation process.
1 A Food-Based Formulation Provides Lycopene with the Same Bioavailability to Humans as That from Tomato Paste - Richelle, M. et al. J. Nutr. 132: 404–408, 2002
A clinical study involving patients with coronary heart disease showed that Ateronon inhibits lipid oxidation and improves the clinical parameters measured by the Rose-Blackburn questionnaire, whereas a control formulation did not.
References
1. Street DA, et al. Serum antioxidants and myocardial infarction. Are low levels of carotenoids and alpha-tocopherol risk factors for
myocardial infarction? Circulation. 1994, 90:1154-61
2. Kohlmeier L, et al. Lycopene and myocardial infarction risk in the EURAMIC Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1997,146, 618-26.
3. Rissanen T, et al. Plasma lycopene concentration is associated with increased intima-media thickeness of the carotid artery wall.
Atrerioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 2000, 20, 2677-2681.
4. Gianetti J, et al. Inverse association between carotid intima-media thickness and the antioxidant lycopene in atherosclerosis. Am
Heart J. 2002,143, 467-74.
5. Sesso HD, et al. Dietary lycopene, tomato-based food products and cardiovascular disease in women. J. Nutr. 2003, 133,
2336-2341.
6. Richelle M. et al. A food-based formulation provides lycopene with the same bioavailabilty to humans as that from tomato paste.
J. Nutr. 2002, 132, 404-408
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