Should I Like Lycopene?

Should I Like Lycopene?

This is an abbreviated version of what will appear in the upcoming book The Authoritative Guide to Nutritional Supplements. The book version will have more details and references.

Some corny jokes start with the question: Why did the tomato turn red? The real answer is that tomatoes contain a compound called lycopene. Lesser amounts are also found in watermelon and some other foods. Lycopene belongs to the carotenoid chemical family. Unlike its carotenoid cousin beta carotene, lycopene cannot be converted by the body into vitamin A. Instead, lycopene belongs to a nutrient class called phytochemicals. These plant compounds are not essential nutrients like vitamins, but they can have health promoting actions. A main, but not the only lycopene action is its antioxidant effects. Antioxidants prevent or stop chemical reactions that in excess contribute to many health problems. Antioxidants can vary in what, where, and how much they do. Lycopene works especially well at a certain antioxidant action.

Studying lycopene can get messy. I don’t mean that tomato sauce might stain the clothes of people in the studies (though that is a risk). Instead, I refer to how lycopene’s effectiveness can depend on the amount consumed, the source, what else is consumed at the same time, and overall diet and lifestyle. The last consideration is rarely part of most studies of single nutrients (because it increases study challenges and expenses). Yet, despite these research issues, some evidence does support that lycopene intake has benefits.

Cancer: Lycopene has grabbed attention for possibly lowering risk of prostate and some other cancers. A definite confirmation would require many long, expensive, and demanding studies. Still, a role in lowering cancer risk is supported by circumstantial evidence. For example, we have a very large nutrition survey called NHANES. This survey accumulated a vast data base on nutrition patterns and various outcomes and measures. This data was used to find that lycopene supplementation was associated with a 34% lower cancer death rate (1). It is possible that this association is just coincidental (people who take lycopene tend to have some other traits that lower cancer risk). However, it is interesting that no other supplement checked by the researchers showed an effect. Other observational studies also exist. Some, though not all, support a lycopene-cancer prevention link. In an intervention study, men in a pre-prostate cancer state took 4 mg lycopene twice daily for a year (2). That dose matches what’s in a half cup of V8 juice. Compared to placebo, lycopene supplementation gave some indication of delaying or preventing precancerous cells from turning into cancer. In my opinion, current circumstantial evidence says that regular intake of lycopene could very possibly lower the risk of some cancers.

Cardiovascular disease. Lycopene can have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and other effects that could slow hardening of the arteries and other cardiovascular problems. For example, a small study from my group tested lycopene supplementation at 15 mg/day in middle aged men (3). The supplement, but not placebo, lowered plasma values for both c reactive protein (an inflammation marker), and oxidized LDL (an oxidant product linked to hardening of the arteries). Studies like this can’t say how much, if any impact lycopene has on cardiovascular disease risk. Still, it does raise the possibility that eating lycopene as part of an overall heart health plan may be helpful. This possibility is supported by observational studies (ie 4). In these studies, high blood lycopene was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular issues including stroke.

In related areas, under certain circumstances, in some people, lycopene supplementation has lowered blood pressure and blood lipid readings (ie 5). Max effects may require at least 25 mg lycopene/day. That can be done with diet, but it would take some attention to detail. Food lycopene contents can be found here: https://www.gbhealthwatch.com/Nutrient-Lycopene-TopFoods.php. The numbers before the commas give milligrams (mg). Supplements can also be part or all of the plan. However, it should be noted that the effects seen so far, though useful, wouldn’t by itself fix really bad blood pressure or lipid readings.

Liver problems. Many people have excess liver fat that leads to health problems in some people. Liver troubles can also arise from stress like alcohol abuse and drug side effects. Lycopene is among multiple phytochemicals that could help protect the liver. Some studies, including one of mine, has seen such protection for lycopene and/or tomato extracts in rats or mice (ie 6,7). One human population association study has been done (8). Here, eating 10 or more mg lycopene/day was associated with lower fatty liver incidence. This observation doesn’t distinguish a causal from a coincidental connection. Even so, this lycopene intake does provide a low risk approach to possibly giving some protection to the liver (especially if combined with a healthy lifestyle).

Skin appearance. A little research has been done on lycopene and skin resistance to UV damage, but we don’t know the practical implications for skin appearance. In a different type of study, 15 mg of supplemental lycopene improved facial skin appearance in 50 women (aged 35-55). A direct measure of skin integrity was done as well as expert ratings for multiple appearance criteria. Positive effects were discernable, though not miraculous (though possibly the effects could have been increased by combining with other treatments). One big study drawback was the lack of a placebo control group. So, the subjects knew what they were getting. Also, the expert raters had no correction for any post treatment evaluation bias. And, on top of this, the two study paper authors worked for the producers of the supplement. Still, the study merits follow up.

Lycopene is also proposed to have other health effects, but none have been completely confirmed yet. Even so, based on the reasonable chance that this phytochemical promotes health, you may decide you want to consume lycopene regularly.

Lycopene absorption from the digestive system into the blood. Be aware of the following:

  • Lycopene absorbs best from bashed up tomato foods like tomato juice and sauce;
  • Many cooking procedures can release lycopene for absorption;
  • Cooking with fat or consuming lycopene with fat both increase absorption.

Supplements vs foods. Some rat studies, one of which is mine, got a health effect with a tomato extract, but not with very pure lycopene (ie 7). Thus, tomatoes may have some helper molecules that make lycopene work better. However, rats process lycopene differently from people. Thus, the lack of supplement effects in rats may not apply to humans. This idea is supported by the fact that quite a few human studies get effects with lycopene supplements.

One study compared tomato juice to two lycopene supplements (9). One, called Lycomato or Lyc-O-Mato, is extracted from tomatoes along with some components that might help lycopene work better. The other supplement was a fairly pure lycopene in water mixable beadlets (possibly the same product that was ineffective in my rat study). After 4 weeks of daily intake, plasma lycopene rose strongly to about the same extent with each product. That implies that all three work equally well. However, three interpretation problems exist:

  1. A high 70-75 mg daily dose was used. Maybe plasma readings would differ at lower doses.
  2. It’s not clear how much fat was eaten with the lycopene. Maybe differences in plasma readings would be seen if more fat was co-ingested with the lycopene.
  3. No health related benefits were measured. A different study (10) calls this omission into question. In the other study, 8 week intake of 15 and 30 mg of a lycopene beadlet supplement gave the same plasma values. However, only the 30 mg dose gave a small, but discernable lowering of a white blood cell DNA damage measure (a factor in aging).

So, I still wonder a little about supplements vs foods, and Lycomato vs other supplements. However, I feel that any of these options are more likely than not to have benefits. I favor food sources because of other beneficial nutrients besides lycopene (like vitamin C). Still, I realize that allergies, food acid issues, and practicalities can make supplementing a useful strategy.

How much lycopene should I eat? If you are not trying to use lycopene to lower blood pressure or blood lipid readings, I recommend 15 to 20 mg/day of relatively well absorbed lycopene. I would include supplements in the relatively well absorbed category. If you are relying on watermelon or raw tomatoes, you should raise the intake a bit (since absorption is on the lower side). My recommended intake does not have major toxicity concerns (though caution may be required for combining with anti-blood clotting drugs). And lastly, my recommended intake covers or exceeds what appears in most positive result studies.

  1. Chen F, Du M, et al. Association among dietary supplement use, nutrient intake, and mortality among u.s. adults: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2019;170:604-613.
  2. Mohanty NK, Saxena S, et al. Lycopene as a chemopreventive agent in the treatment of high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia. Urol Oncol 2005;23:383-385.
  3. DiSilvestro RA, Joseph E, DiSilvestro D. Lycopene concentrate supplementation decreases plasma values for c-reactive protein and oxidized LDL. FASEB J 2013;27:638.13.
  4. Karppi J, Laukkanen JA, et al. Serum lycopene decreases the risk of stroke in men: a population-based follow-up study. Neurology. 2012;79:1540-1547.
  5. Cheng HM, Koutsidis G, et al. Tomato and lycopene supplementation and cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Atherosclerosis 2017;257:100-108.
  6. Róvero Costa M, Leite Garcia J, et al. Lycopene modulates pathophysiological processes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese rats. Antioxidants 2019;8:276.
  7. Kim Y, DiSilvestro RA, Clinton S. Effects of lycopene beadlet or tomato powder feeding on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Phytomedicine 2004;11:152-156.
  8. Donghia R, Campanella A, et al. Protective role of lycopene in subjects with liver disease: NUTRIHEP Study. Nutrients 2024;16:562.
  9. Paetau I, Khachik F, et al. Chronic ingestion of lycopene-rich tomato juice or lycopene supplements significantly increases plasma concentrations of lycopene and related tomato carotenoids in humans. Amer J Clin Nutr 1998;68:1187-1195.
  10. Devaraj S, Mathur S, et al. A dose-response study on the effects of purified lycopene supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress. J Am Coll Nutr 2008;27:267-273.