Its name is not misleading: tomatidine is a compound found in tomatoes, specifically green ones . It is generated when another substance, the alkaloid alpha-tomatine, is digested in the intestine.
And as scientists from the University of Iowa have just announced in the Journal of Biological Chemistry , it can be of great help in alleviating muscle atrophy , which affects the elderly and patients who must stay in bed for long periods of time.
The researchers found that tomatidine changes gene expression in mice and reverses changes in muscle cells when there is prolonged immobility . They also saw that it stimulated the growth of human cells in laboratory cultures.
They then added the natural substance to the diet of healthy rodents, which became "hunk" in plain sight . In addition, the increase in muscle mass did not lead to weight gain, since the animals lost fat at the same time .
This effect suggests that tomatidine could also be used as an antidote to obesity , although how it affects people remains to be elucidated, and in what doses those affected by muscle atrophy should take it.
Previously, the University of Iowa team had already discovered that ursolic acid, found in the skin of apples, makes muscles grow, but tomatidine appears even more promising.
