The first thing you should know is that the food we consume contains other substances in addition to well-known nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. Foods and especially plant foods, contain thousands of non-nutrients such as phytochemicals which give fruits and vegetables their taste, aroma and beautiful colour.

So where does lycopene fit in?

Lycopene is one of these phytochemicals and falls in the same category of phytochemicals as beta-carotene, collectively known as the carotenoids. While beta-carotene provides fruits and vegetables with a rich orange colour, lycopene gives fruits and vegetables a characteristic pink to dark red colour.

So why all the fuss about lycopene?

Phytochemicals have been studied intensively for many years and scientists have found that lycopene may have several health benefits. Firstly, it was found that lycopene is an antixodant, meaning that it inhibits the growth of cancer cells, thus protecting our bodies from cancer and other diseases such as heart disease. Further research revealed that lycopene protects us against specific cancers, namely cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, prostate and lungs. The role of lycopene in protecting our eyes against macular degenerative disease - which may lead to blindness - and its role in lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol is still being studied.

Which foods contain lycopene?

Lycopene is found in apricots, pink grapefruit, watermelon, papaya and guava, but is most abundant in tomatoes, tomato juice and cooked tomato products such as tomato sauce and tomato puree.

How much lycopene is needed to provide the necessary health benefits?

Research studies report that people who consume five or more tomato-containing meals per week are less likely to suffer from cancers of the oesophagus, prostate and stomach compared to those people who avoid tomatoes. So it might be a good idea to chop a few extra tomatoes into your salad, pop a few tomatoes into your children’s lunchboxes, add it to your stews, make your own tomato-based pasta sauce, swop your high fat mayonnaise for tomato sauce and add tomato puree to dishes to give that extra bit of lycopene to all your meals.

Thinking about taking a supplement that contains lycopene?

Rather eat more fruits and vegetables. Cancer research favours eating lycopene containing foods instead of taking a supplement. Food contains a unique combination of nutrients and thousands of substances that are still unknown to us. A supplement can never replace the actual food and this might be the reason why lycopene containing supplements have not been found effective in reducing cancer risk.

      Article written by Francette Bekke ((RD) SA  - Dieticians at work