Tomatoes-antioxidant power - benefits of lycopene - Brief Article

Running & FitNews, June, 2001

If you eat loads of tomatoes--fresh or in sauces--chances are your blood lycopene level is quite high. Take heart; there is nothing to worry about, Lycopene is yet another antioxidant found primarily in tomatoes that seems to decrease your risk for certain cancers as your blood level increases. In a review of the available research, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found tremendous consistency among 72 different studies of the inverse association of tomato consumption and cancer. In other words, the more tomatoes and tomato products an individual consumes, the lower the rate of cancer, particularly cancers of the prostate, lung, and stomach.

This is very persuasive evidence, although the author notes that dietary research cannot confirm a direct cause and effect relationship. Dietary evidence is always complicated because there are too many variables that cannot be controlled; for example, the effects may be from some other compound usually present when tomatoes are eaten. However, the consistency of the findings over so many studies, both dietary-based and blood-based, argues strongly against bias. There's just too much evidence from a variety of sources to raise much doubt about the findings.

Fresh tomatoes, though loaded with lycopene, may not provide the same protection as cooked. Believe it or not, Italian cooking seems to be the best way to get your lycopene. Here's why: Bioavailability--the degree to which a nutrient is actually used by the body versus just passing through--is greatest when the tomato is cooked and when it is in the presence of dietary lipids or fats, as in spaghetti sauce. Italian sauce makes lycopene easy medicine to take and another way to guard your health for the long run.

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 91, No. 4, pp. 317-331; Vol. 91, No. 15. pp. 1331)