Lycopene Review
Lycopene is a naturally occurring chemical found in various fruits and vegetables that gives foods their red color. It is one of many pigments known as carotenoids. Lycopene is found in foods like watermelons, apricots, and pink grapefruits.
Lycopene is found in particularly high amounts in tomatoes. It is estimated that 85% of dietary lycopene comes from tomatoes and tomato products. Roughly one cup (240mL) of tomato juice provides about 23mg of lycopene, which is the highest concentration of any food.
Lycopene Benefits
Despite being consumed by most humans on a weekly or even daily basis, research on lycopene is still very preliminary right now. However, here is what research says about Lycopene:
— Anti-Oxidative Effects: Although lycopene is known to be a powerful antioxidant, human research has still shown a mixed bag of results. Some studies have found anti-oxidative benefits with lycopene supplementation, where as others have found little to no benefits.
— Asthma: A number of studies suggest that lycopene may help prevent asthma and benefit people who already have asthma. The method is unclear but available research has shown an improvement in breathing in people with asthma after taking lycopene. However, some of this research has used mixed ingredients, so the potential benefits of just lycopene is unknown.
— Blood Thinner: Some research suggests that lycopene may act as a natural blood thinner. However, most of this research has used tomato extract versus a pure lycopene supplement, which means more research is needed.
— Cancer Prevention: Like many of the other claimed benefits of lycopene, this benefit is still only based on preliminary research. Early indications are that lycopene may help prevent a number of cancers, including bladder and skin cancer.
Other limited research suggests that lycopene may also be useful in treating coronary artery disease, diabetes, and an enlarged prostate. However, research is still only in its’ early stages and researchers are not entirely sure whether or not lycopene is the agent responsible for improving on these conditions.
Lycopene Safety and Side Effects
Lycopene is remarkably safe when taken in appropriate amounts. Daily supplementation of up to 120mg of lycopene has been used safely by adults for up to one year.
However, lycopene is not right for everyone. A recent study using a lycopene supplement found that taking 2mg daily, starting between 12 and 20 weeks of pregnancy and continuing until deliver, increased the rate of premature births and low-birth weight babies. For this reason, it is ideally recommended that pregnant or nursing mothers avoid taking lycopene supplements.
In addition, new research suggests lycopene might worsen prostate cancer by increasing the spread of cancer without having any direct effect on cancer cell growth. Experts suggest avoiding lycopene supplements if you have a prostate cancer diagnosis.
For the average adult, lycopene is both safe and side effect free. We haven’t found any common side effects or complaints from users of lycopene supplements. If you do experience a sudden change in your health, then you’ll want to discontinue use of lycopene and call your doctor immediately.
Are Lycopene Supplements Worth Buying?
Lycopene may very well have many of the benefits we mentioned above, but until research is more conclusive, we really have little idea of how beneficial lycopene is. More research is currently in progress, but we still won’t know the results for another few years, so it will be a while before we know anything more about the potential health benefits of lycopene.
With that said, lycopene has proven to be a safe supplement when taken in healthy adults with a dosage of around 120mg a day. Therefore, it certainly won’t hurt you to take a lycopene supplement, but it may not help you either.
