Researchers at the Japanese Kobe Gakuin university set out to test tomato extracts for anti-thrombotic effects and to identify those varieties that could have a positive effect.

The aim of the study, led by Dr. J. Yamamoto , was to investigate if a daily intake of tomato extracts could offer 'a convenient and effective way' of preventing thrombotic activity.

Thrombotic diseases include myocardial infarction and stroke. According to the study findings, the research showed that the tomato variety KG99-4 inhibited not only platelet-rich thrombus formation but also had a thrombolytic effect.

In order to mimic the pathological process of arterial thrombosis, a shear induced platelet function test (haemostatometry) was used to test anti-thrombotic potential of tomatoes in vitro.

Extracts from those tomato varieties that showed a significant anti-thrombotic activity in vitro were further assessed in vivo, using He-Ne laser-induced thrombosis test in mice.

'It is concluded that haemostatometry can detect and classify the anti-thrombotic potential of fruits and vegetables and offers a simple way of screening for such effects,' concluded the researchers.

Full findings of the paper, 'Tomatoes have natural anti-thromobotic effects,' can be found in the British Journal of Nutrition (2003) 90:1031-1038.