Dietary lycopene is negatively associated with abdominal aortic calcification in US adults: a cross-sectional study

Vascular calcification (VC) is one of the complications of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Previous studies have confirmed that oxidative stress (OS) plays an important role in developing VC and that antioxidants have anti-VC effects.

Our study aimed to determine the relationship between the intake of antioxidants from dietary sources and the prevalence of VC, especially in the CKD population.

This cross-sectional study analyzed population-based data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; 2013-2014). Participants were noninstitutionalized adults >40 years of age. Diet-derived antioxidants were obtained from the first 24-h dietary recall interviews. The abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) score was measured by a DXA scan. We divided the AAC scores into three groups: no calcification (AAC =0), mild to moderate calcification (0< AAC ≤6), and severe calcification (AAC >6).

A total of 2897 participants were included in the main analysis. Our results showed that vitamin B6, α-tocopherol, and lycopene were associated with severe AAC in unadjusted models (odds ratio (OR): 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72-0.91, p = 0.001; OR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.95-0.99, p = 0.008; OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.96-0.99, p = 0.01, respectively). However, only dietary lycopene was associated with severe AAC after adjusting covariates based on clinical and statistical significance. Per 1 mg higher intake of diet-derived lycopene per day, the odds of having severe AAC were 2% lower in the fully adjusted model (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.95-0.999, p = 0.04). Moreover, in subgroup analysis, diet-derived antioxidant was not associated with AAC in patients with CKD.

Our findings indicate that a higher intake of diet-derived lycopene was independently associated with lower odds of having severe AAC in humans. Therefore, a high intake of diet-derived lycopene may help prevent severe AAC.