Inflammation and oxidative stress are usually connected, and both can affect your blood vessels in a negative way. Both are known to cause damage to the endothelium, the inner lining of the blood vessels.
Depending on what kind of food the meal includes, both inflammation and oxidative stress can increase. To evaluate if adding processed tomato products would make a difference, the participants of this study consumed high fat meals known to induce oxidative stress on 2 separate occasions (Burton-Freeman B, et.al., 2012).
One time a processed tomato product was added, and the other time a non-tomato product was used.
Several tests were performed before and after, and it was found that the tomato product significantly
reduced the high fat meal induced LDL oxidation and the rise in IL-6, an inflammatory marker.
Beans is another food that has shown to modify cardiovascular risk.
When meals containing either black beans, fiber matched meals or antioxidant capacity matched meals were compared this was the result (Reverri EJ, et.al., 2015).
Insulin was lower after the black bean meal and a trend for decreasing oxidized LDL was found for both the the beans and the antioxidant matched meal.
Oxidized LDL is the most harmful form of LDL cholesterol.
If you like pasta, you can make the meal healthier by adding beans to a sauce which includes
processed tomatoes.
By taking a well absorbed form of curcumine you can further decrease inflammation (Sahebkar A, 2014).
References
Burton-Freeman B, Talbot J, Park E, Krishnankutty S, Edirisinghe I. Protective activity of processed tomato products on postprandial oxidation and inflammation: a clinical trial in healthy weight men and women. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2012 Apr;56(4):622-31.
Reverri EJ, Randolph JM, Steinberg FM, Kappagoda CT, Edirisinghe I, Burton-Freeman BM. Black Beans, Fiber, and Antioxidant Capacity Pilot Study: Examination of Whole Foods vs. Functional Components on Postprandial Metabolic, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation in Adults with Metabolic Syndrome. Nutrients. 2015 Jul 27;7(8):6139-54.
Sahebkar A1. Are curcuminoids effective C-reactive protein-lowering agents in clinical practice? Evidence from a meta-analysis. Phytother Res. 2014 May;28(5):633-42.
Better Curcumin
Curcumin is a good antioxidant, but it is especially effective in helping to reduce inflammation. For these reasons, curcumin provides many health benefits.