A fascinating paper highlighted in F1000 Prime suggests that powdered tomato (the red-coloured lycopene in it, actually) has a protective effect on a liver diseased by alcohol. Specifically, “dietary tomato powder inhibits alcohol-induced hepatic injury by suppressing cytochrome p450 2E1 induction in rodent models.” So if you’re a boozed up critter it might help. What I am waiting with baited breath to see are the tabloid headlines when they get wind of this research:
Bloody Mary cures ailing liver
That kind of thing…
This from the paper’s abstract:
Chronic and excessive alcohol consumption leads to the development of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and greatly increases the risk of liver cancer. Induction of the cytochrome p450 2E1 (CYP2E1) enzyme by chronic and excessive alcohol intake is known to play a role in the pathogenesis of ALD. High intake of tomatoes, rich in the carotenoid lycopene, is associated with a decreased risk of chronic disease.
Of course, the paper says nothing of the sort wrt the Bloody Mary, it just hints at a component of tomato powder having a putatively beneficial effect on liver enzymes in a laboratory animal. I gave it a tweet and Justin Brower aka Nature Poisons, a forensic toxicologist and organic chemist, offered up the idea of a powdered Bloody Mary made from “powdered alcohol” and powdered tomato, he called it “The Jane Doe Bloodstain”, to which I then offered the hashtag Dexter. Thus, was born the ultimate boozy liver scientist’s cocktail: A Dexter on the
Rocks. Watch out for the gory end of season finale…cheers!
CC “Bloody Mary” photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/fstorr