Seeing red: lycopene is essential to male health

Better Nutrition, June, 2005 by Kim Schoenhals

Ever wonder where nature's red comes from? In the case of tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit and guava, it can be attributed to an antioxidant called lycopeue. A member of the carotenoid family, lycopene suffuses fruits with color and offers several healthful properties, particularly for men. Research indicates that lycopene supplements and lycopene-rich foods such as tomato sauce may support fertility, promote prostate and heart health, and even stymie cancer.

Fertility

Only in the past few decades has fertility come to be regarded as a problem for couples rather than a female-only concern. In fact, estimates indicate that 35-50 percent of the time, male infertility is a factor in conception difficulties, which occur in 1 out of 10 American couples.

Sperm health is obviously a key factor in male fertility, and lycopene, as an antioxidant, may help maintain semen quality. Armand Zini, MD, associate professor of surgery at McGill University in Montreal, addressed this issue during the 2004 meeting of the American Dietetic Association (ADA). He reported that oxidative damage is linked to male infertility, as is a low semen lycopene level.

Zini's research isn't the first to demonstrate this correlation. A 1996 study appearing in the Archives of Andrology revealed a connection between dietary antioxidants and male fertility and showed reduced seminal lycopene levels in infertile subjects.

The good news is that lycopene supplementation may improve seminal lycopene levels, thereby improving sperm health. Zini suggested this possibility at the ADA meeting, and so did Indian researchers who published their findings in 2002 in International Urology and Nephrology. The Indian study indicated that after 3 months of lycopene supplementation, participants exhibited significant improvements in sperm concentration, motility and morphology.

Prostate Health

In addition to improving sperm health, lycopene may also protect prostate health. The fact that it affects hormone signaling in the prostate suggests that lycopene may help prevent benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or prostate enlargement, according to October 2004 research published in the Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. The same research suggests that lycopene may prevent prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among American men. But the risk for the disease may be reduced by lycopene and tomato-based food consumption. In vitro and animal research has shown that lycopene induces prostate cancer cell death and inhibits tumor growth.

While lycopene is a powerful anti-cancer compound on its own, it may be even more powerful when consumed in whole tomato products such as tomato sauce. A study in the December 2004 issue of The Journal of Nutrition shows that processed tomato products reduce the risk of prostate cancer, with lycopene being the most likely phytonutrient causing this effect.

This notion was seconded by researchers at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, who say that fruits and vegetables rich in lycopene and other carotenoids may protect against prostate cancer. In the March 2005 International Journal of Cancer, the Australians reported a reduced risk of prostate cancer in men with higher intakes of lycopene and other carotenoids, as well as tomatoes, pumpkin, spinach, watermelon and citrus.

Heart Health

Regular fruit and vegetable intake also seems to lower the risk of death from heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer of men in the United States. Research reported in the July 2004 issue of Stroke showed that higher plasma levels of lycopene and other carotenoids from fruit and vegetable intake reduce the risk of ischemic stroke.

Specifically, tomatoes and tomato products protect against cardiovascular disease, probably due to lycopene content, according to researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus. Their research, published in 2003 in Nutrition and Cancer, showed daily servings of tomato sauce, soup and juice significantly increased plasma lycopene concentrations.

Plasma lycopene levels may be relevant to heart health, according to Finnish researchers, who found a correlation between reduced plasma lycopene concentrations and heart disease in men. Their study, which appeared in the January 2003 edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that low serum lycopene concentrations indicate a higher likelihood of increased intima-media thickness, a sign of the early stages of atherosclerosis.

Cancer

Fruit and vegetable intake, on the whole, may also help to reduce the worldwide incidence of cancer, according to the World Health Organization, which recommends at least 600 grams (about 2 1/2 cups) per day of flesh fruits and vegetables.

More specifically, lycopene intake--primarily from tomatoes--has been linked to a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer in men. According to Canadian researchers, tomato and tomato-based products high in lycopene may lower pancreatic cancer risk by up to 31 percent, as reported in the March 2005 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.