What is Lycopene?

Nutrition and Health information supplied to GrownUps by Wattie's

From Wattie's Nutrition News
Issue 6, 2004

• Lycopene is the pigment that makes certain fruits and vegetables red, such as tomatoes, watermelon, guava and pink grapefruit.
• Lycopene is an antioxidant which may help lower the risk of certain diseases.
• In the body, lycopene is deposited in the liver, lungs, prostate gland, colon and skin. Its concentration in body tissues tends to be higher than all other carotenoids.
• Studies have shown that high consumption of lycopene rich vegetables is associated with a lower risk of certain types of cancer.

Sources of Lycopene in the Diet

Lycopene is not produced by the body, so you can only obtain its benefits through eating lycopene rich foods. Tomato based products are particularly good sources.

Products such as tomato rich pasta sauces, tomato based soups, tomato juice, tomato sauce and tomato paste are common sources of lycopene in the diet. Fruits such as watermelon and pink grapefruit contain lycopene in smaller amounts. Heat processing increases the bioavailability of the lycopene up to 2.5 times. Lycopene is a fat soluble nutrient so cooking tomatoes with a little oil helps to increase lycopene absorption by the body.

How Much Lycopene are you Getting?

The nutritional benefits of lycopene can be achieved by drinking as little as 540ml (approx two glasses) of tomato juice each day. The table below shows other ways to include high levels of lycopene in the diet using tomato-based products.

1 Heinz media release, 5 July, 2001

Easy Ways to Increase your Lycopene Consumption

• Heat a jar of tomato based sauce, pour over pasta and top with steamed vegetables and grated cheese
• When making homemade spaghetti sauce, be sure to include some tomato paste
• Include a tomato or a combination vegetable juice in your diet occasionally
• When choosing a warming winter soup select a tomato based variety
• Wake up your tastebuds with pink grapefruit at breakfast or serve slices of watermelon as a healthy dessert.

For more information and research on Lycopene visit www.lycopene.org

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