One of the world’s most popular foods may be subtly altering the way our brains work. Red tomatoes contain lycopene—a vibrant pigment and powerful antioxidant capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier—which may help reduce neuroinflammation.
But does this actually affect brain function? A new randomized clinical trial suggests it might. Spanish researchers investigated how tomato consumption impacts the cognitive abilities of healthy adults; the findings have been published in the journal Antioxidants.
“To the best of our knowledge,” the authors write, “this is the first clinical study linking changes in levels of the antioxidant lycopene to changes in functional brain connectivity.”
When 42 middle-aged individuals consumed 35 grams of tomato paste daily for three months, they showed enhanced selective attention and a slight improvement in associative memory during cognitive tests.
These improvements were corroborated by brain scans performed on a smaller subgroup of 14 participants.
The scans revealed preliminary changes in connectivity between major brain networks, although the image analysis was limited—lacking sufficient statistical power and relying on a more lenient statistical threshold than the correction method originally planned for the study.
It is also worth noting that the study was not blinded—both participants and researchers knew who was consuming the tomato paste and who was not. Consequently, the authors cannot entirely rule out the possibility that knowledge of the participants’ diets influenced their motivation or effort during the cognitive tests.
As with any study, it is important not to get carried away by the results; however, while the data remain preliminary, the findings are intriguing. They suggest that bioactive compounds in tomatoes, such as lycopene, may promote brain health—a hypothesis that requires further verification in future, larger-scale studies.
“These results indicate that tomato consumption may support cognitive function and modulate brain connectivity in healthy middle-aged adults,” conclude the study authors, led by nutritionist Ricardo López-Solís from the University of Barcelona in Spain.
The study was conducted as a crossover trial, meaning participants essentially served as their own control groups.
In the week prior to the start of the randomized study, participants were asked to avoid foods rich in lycopene, such as tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, grapefruit, and guava.
They then underwent two dietary interventions over a three-month period: one involving the daily consumption of tomato paste, and the other a low-lycopene diet.
A one-month “washout period” separated the two diets. During the first three weeks, participants ate normally, then returned to a low-lycopene diet for the final week to reset before the next phase.
Following each dietary intervention, scientists measured various changes in the participants’ blood.
Lycopene concentrations increased markedly during the tomato-consumption phase, and a slight increase was observed in the level of a brain-growth-promoting protein called BDNF.
The brain-scanning component of the study was smaller in scope and less conclusive, but a decrease in resting-state connectivity within the frontoparietal and auditory networks was observed during the high-lycopene diet. Conversely, with low tomato intake, researchers observed reduced resting-state connectivity within dorsal attention networks.
“Taken together,” the authors write, “these neural changes suggest that tomato consumption facilitates the functional reorganization of large-scale brain networks, enhancing network efficiency and adaptability by eliminating redundant inter-network interactions.”
They note that similar adaptations have been observed following interventions aimed at training human working memory.
The authors conclude that the parallel relationship between lycopene, BDNF, and network connectivity may indicate “functional brain reorganization following tomato consumption.”
These findings are generally consistent with a previous pilot study involving older adults, in which the consumption of carotenoid-rich tomato powder improved information processing speed, attention, and working memory over an eight-week period compared to a placebo.
In a separate five-week crossover study, it was establ It has been established that a drink made from a berry blend with added tomato powder improves working memory in older adults but not their selective attention; the study authors suggest this discrepancy may reflect a practice effect resulting from repeatedly taking the same cognitive test.
It is difficult to say whether this is specifically due to lycopene, as tomatoes are rich in antioxidants and vitamins.
However, studies involving both mice and humans have found a link between lycopene levels and lower rates of prostate and lung cancer, as well as cardiovascular and liver diseases.
Nevertheless, no study has yet proven a cause-and-effect relationship. Larger, long-term studies are needed to determine whether the neural changes associated with consuming tomato paste persist over time or lead to clinically significant changes in the brain.
In the meantime, simply bear in mind that tomatoes are packed with powerful antioxidants and vitamins.
These key components remain intact even when making sauce. In fact, cooked tomatoes may contain more lycopene than raw ones; the high heat used in cooking breaks down the tomato cell walls, making the lycopene easier for the body to absorb. A spoonful of tomato paste can significantly enhance the flavor of any dish.
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