Lycopene

Better Nutrition, August, 2005 by Anna Soref

Tomatoes add zing to your favorite sauce, fight off disease and improve your appearance. What's the key to their super powers? lust look at their through-and-through red hue.

Lycopene, a natural chemical that gives tomatoes and other fruits such as watermelon and grapefruit their reddish color, is widely believed to have disease-fighting capabilities. Research has been finding that the more lycopene people have in their bodies, the lower their risk of cancer and heart disease.

By now you probably know that lycopene is more available in processed or cooked tomato products--think ketchup, juice and suauce (and yes, that means pizza). Allergic to tomatoes or simply don't like their taste? No problem. You can get lycopene in a pill. The trick is to find a supplement that has a whole-tomato base. "It should say tomato-based' on the bottle because you need to get a supplement that contains all the factors in fresh tomatoes that work synergistically with lycopene," says Cathleen London, MD, a Brookline, Massachusetts, physician in private practice.

And if you thought adding ketchup to your list of "should eat" foods was great news, here's more: Researchers are now exploring whether lycopene's potent antioxidant effects may also work their magic when applied directly to the skin to prevent skin cancer and aging. Initial research bodes well.

Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City found that when used on the skin, lycopene prevented sunburn. And a study in the January 2004 Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology reported that topically applied lycopene stopped inflammation and DNA damage in response to the sun.

Manufacturers are using this information to your advantage by adding lycopene to moisturizers for a natural SPF boost--it has a very mild sunscreen effect with an SPF of about 3 (which would protect you in indirect sunlight)--and antioxidant support. Smearing ketchup on your nose might work, too, but we wouldn't recommend it.