20 Things You Need to Know About Lycopene

1. Lycopene is a retinoid found in abundance in tomato products and watermelon. lycopene is the most abundant carotenoid stored in the prostate gland, and it is more potent than beta carotene in protecting against prostate cancer. But lycopene is not stored for very long, which means that a daily dose of lycopene-rich food is in every man's best interest.
   
   - J. Robert Hatherill, Eat To Beat Cancer: A Research Scientist Explains How You and Your Family Can Avoid Up to 90% of All Cancers
2. The reduced lycopene concentration in raw tomatoes does not warrant cooking, especially since there are many ways to get sufficient lycopene, such as eating watermelon or strawberries. According to Dr. Atkins, blending the raw tomatoes releases the lycopene just as well as heating them anyhow.
   
   - Susan E. Schenck, The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet
3. Lycopene prevents prostate cancer.
   
   - Jon Barron, Lessons from The Miracle Doctors: A Step-by-Step Guide to Optimum Health and Relief from Catastrophic Illness
4. In fact, recent studies have found that high serum levels of lycopene and alpha-carotene are associated with a decreased risk of cervical dysplasia, and increasing serum levels of lycopene alone was found to increase clearance of oncogenic HPV infections by over 50 percent.
   
   - Tori Hudson, N.D., Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness
5. 5. If you cannot include tomato-based foods in your diet, then take lycopene supplements. Also, limit synthetic fat intake, since it reduces beta carotene and the amount of lycopene in the body.
   
   - J. Robert Hatherill, Eat To Beat Cancer: A Research Scientist Explains How You and Your Family Can Avoid Up to 90% of All Cancers
6. Carotenes include beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, cryproxanthin, gamma-carotene, zeaxanthin, lutein, and lycopene. Studies have shown that beta-carotene deficiency in the cervical cells plays an etiologic role in the development of cervical dysplasia. It has been suspected that carotenes like lycopene, found in tomatoes, are more responsible for an improvement in dysplasia than is beta-carotene or the other carotenes.
   
   - Tori Hudson, N.D., Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness
7. A carotenoid (as is beta carotene), lycopene serves as an antioxidant, blocks UVA and UVB rays, and is strongly suspected of arresting the growth of cancer cells, especially of the prostate. Lycopene is especially plentiful in tomatoes and tomato-based products and works better when combined wirh a small amount of fat. Lycopene has roughly twice the power of beta carotene and ten times the strength of vitamin E when it comes to neutralizing free radicals. In the human body, you will find lycopene in the blood and the skin.
   
   - Dianne Onstad, Whole Foods Companion: A Guide For Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and lovers of natural foods
8. The simultaneous ingestion of fats increases the availability of lycopene and carotenoids supplements. Some vitamins are actually more effective in supplements than in foodstuffs (e.g., vitamin A is more bioavailable in supplement than in spinach or sweet potato). On the other hand, lycopene is more available from eggs than from supplements, and cooking tomatoes increases its availability.
   
   - Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea, What If Medicine Disappeared?
9. Recent studies cite lycopene for maintaining heart health, and for cancer prevention. lycopene exhibits anticancer properties in animal studies, in vitro, and in human beings. A large human case-control study found that increased consumption of lycopene-containing foods, especially tomatoes and tomato products, may lead to reduced myocardial infarction risk. lycopene prevents LDL (bad) cholesterol from oxidizing and building deposits on walls of arteries; it thus curbs development of atherosclerosis. The role of lycopene in prevention of prostate cancer is documented. Reduced L-Glutathione.
   
   - Gary Null, Gary Null's Power Aging
10. Red tomatoes contain a pigment called lycopene. In the human body lycopene becomes a scavenger of free radicals, again preventing the modifications to cells which might cause them to become cancerous. Eating tomatoes on a regular basis will keep a steady supply of lycopene in your body. Since lycopene does not appear to be affected by heat, it is also possible to obtain it from tomato sauces, canned tomatoes, and similar products —though the vitamin C content of these sources will generally be lower than what is found in a ripe tomato.
    
    - Duncan Long, Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency
11. A recent animal study suggests that lycopene supplementation (high in yellow/orange fruits and vegetables and especially high in tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato juice) may decrease the incidence and size of leiomyomas.
    
    - Tori Hudson, N.D., Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness
12. The cook does not need to know, as the scientists have recently informed us, that cooking the tomatoes with olive oil makes the lycopene in them more available to our bodies. No, the cook already knew that olive oil with tomatoes is a really good idea. As cook in your kitchen you enjoy an omniscience about your food that no amount of supermarket study or label reading could hope to match.
    
    - Michael Pollan,In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
13. The amount of lycopene in tomatoes can vary significantly, depending upon the type of tomato and how ripe it is. In the reddest strains, lycopene concentration is close to 50 milligrams per kilogram, compared with only 5 milligrams per kilogram in the yellow strains. Lycopene appears to be relatively stable during cooking and food processing. In fact, you actually get up to five times as much Lycopene from tomato paste or juice as you do from raw tomatoes, because processing "liberates" more lycopene from the plant's cells. Eating a lycopene source with oil, such as olive oil, can also improve its absorption.
    
    - Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods
14. In another study, lycopene supplementation (15 milligrams per day) given to patients with existing prostate cancer was shown to slow tumor growth, shrink the tumor, and lower the level of PSA (prostate-specific antigen, a marker of cancer activity) by 18 percent.
    
    - Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods
15. For example, one study compared patients with age-related macular degeneration to healthy controls. Individuals with low levels of lycopene were found to be twice as likely to have age-related macular degeneration.
    
    - Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised Second Edition
16. For the prevention of prostate cancer, it is recommended that men consume plenty of lycopene-containing foods, and take 30 mg of supplemental lycopene daily.
    
    - Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH, Naturopathic Nutrition: A Guide to Nutrient-rich Food & Nutritional Supplements for Optimum Health
17. In a more recent study, lycopene was shown to reduce the loss of bone associated with osteoporosis. It is known that osteoclasts (cells that breakdown bone) can produce free radicals that stimulate bone loss (resorption). The group with the highest blood concentrations of lycopene had the least amount of bone resorption, as indicated by a specific laboratory marker (NTx). These results were statistically significant.
    
    - Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH, Naturopathic Nutrition: A Guide to Nutrient-rich Food & Nutritional Supplements for Optimum Health
18. A decade ago, we didn't even know about phytochemicals, such as the powerful antioxidant lycopene (a red carotenoid found mainly in tomatoes), anthocyanin (a powerful antioxidant that gives berries their deep blue color), and pterostilbene (which appears to turn on a switch in cells that breaks down fat and cholesterol). It's not that food synergy hasn't been studied over the years. Researchers, however, tend to isolate a nutrient or phytochemical and then study its effects without necessarily looking for relationships between foods or nutrients.
    
    - Elaine Magee, Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well
19. Based on these findings, it was speculated that dietary lycopene has a role in preventing oxidative damage of biomolecules and, most likely, in reducing the risk of prostate cancer. In a 2002 randomized controlled trial, researchers assessed the effect of 200 g of tomato sauce daily (containing 30 mg of lycopene) on DNA damage in men with prostate cancer. There were many notable benefits from the tomato sauce that yielded statistical significance.
    
    - Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH, Naturopathic Nutrition: A Guide to Nutrient-rich Food & Nutritional Supplements for Optimum Health
20. They found, first, that lycopene and beta-carotene levels in blood are about the same, but that fat contains much more lycopene. Next, they found that high fat levels of lycopene were associated with a lesser risk of heart attacks. This was not so for alpha- or beta-carotene. They also comment that lycopene is a much better antioxidant than beta-carotene. It is possible, therefore, that tomatoes are more protective than carrots.
    
    - John R. Smythies, Every Persons Guide To Antioxidants

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