Lycopene: Health Benefits, Food Sources, Safety Information, and More

Jun 14, 2023

Lycopene is a natural compound found in many foods, from pizza sauce and ketchup to watermelons and grapefruits. It’s a chemical called a carotenoid, which are natural pigments that give color to plants, fruits, and vegetables.

As a red carotenoid, lycopene is widely found in red and pink fruits and vegetables. It’s known as one of the most powerful natural antioxidants, and because it’s still effective when heated, it’s easy to add to your diet through both fresh and processed foods.

Lycopene’s main health benefit is its antioxidant function.

Antioxidants are molecules that fight free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals build up naturally in response to aging, but their levels increase due to environmental and behavioral factors like pollution and smoking.

Free radicals cause cell damage — in high levels, this damage is linked to a wide range of health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. By stabilizing these free radicals, scientists believe that lycopene may reduce the risk of developing chronic illnesses.

While research is ongoing, lycopene may also promote good oral health, bone health, and blood pressure.

In addition, lycopene is thought to have these other health benefits:

Reduced Cancer Risk

While more research is needed, studies have found a connection between lycopene intake and cancer prevention — particularly for bone, lung, and prostate cancers. Experimental studies have shown that lycopene slows or stops the growth of cancer cells.

It’s thought that this effect is due to lycopene’s uniquely strong antioxidant abilities. Because it's not changed into Vitamin A in our bodies like most carotenoids, scientists believe its antioxidant properties are enhanced, helping to reduce cell damage that can lead to cancer.

Heart Health

A recent study found evidence that lycopene reduced bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing good cholesterol (HDL) levels.

This balance is important because high cholesterol develops fatty deposits in our blood vessels, which can clot and lead to a heart attack or stroke. In addition, lycopene can help to maintain good blood pressure, further reducing the risk of heart disease.

Skin Health

Long-term lycopene consumption is also linked with skin cancer prevention. Several studies show that people who included tomato paste in their diet daily experienced up to 40% less ultraviolet (UV) skin damage from sunlight than those who did not.

While tomatoes can’t substitute for sunscreen, researchers found lycopene to provide a consistent level of skin protection, similar to a sunblock with SPF 1.3 protection. In addition, lycopene was shown to boost levels of procollagen in the skin significantly, which scientists believe has the potential to reverse skin damage caused by aging.

Improved Fertility in Men

A recent study found that consuming 14 milligrams a day of lycopene can improve fertility in healthy young men by about 40 percent.

Pain Relief

Lycopene has been shown to reduce pain to a degree similar to that of ibuprofen medication. Several studies have looked at its effects on nerve pain — which is traditionally very difficult to treat. The results in animals are promising, showing significant levels of decreased pain and hypersensitivity from lycopene intake.

Lycopene is considered safe and there are no established upper limits recommended for its consumption.

However, some cases of extremely high lycopene intake have led to slight skin discoloration. One case study reported that a woman who drank about 2 liters of tomato juice daily over several years developed an orange tint to her skin. This issue is only temporary, however. After reducing her lycopene intake, the woman's skin discoloration faded in a few weeks.

While research is ongoing, there are not currently any known negative side effects associated with taking lycopene. However, high levels of lycopene may not be suitable for:

Talk to your doctor before changing your diet to ensure lycopene is safe for you and won’t interact with medications you take.

While there are no known effects of lycopene deficiency, doctors recommend consuming about 10 milligrams a day as part of a healthy diet.

It’s also advised to get this lycopene from food sources to gain the most benefits. Supplements are available, but it’s unclear if they pack the same power as lycopene found in whole foods.

Here are some excellent sources of lycopene:

Research also shows that lycopene is better absorbed by our bodies when heated and combined with healthy fats like olive or coconut oil.

Some great ways to get the best absorption of these lycopene-rich foods are through recipes like:

SOURCES:

Annual Review of Food Science and Technology. “An Update on the Health Effects of Tomato Lycopene.”

British Journal of Dermatology. “Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo: a randomized controlled trial.”

Harvard Medical School. “Tomatoes and stroke protection.”

Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research. “Comparison of the Effect of Lycopene with Ibuprofen on Sensory Threshold of Pain Using Formalin Test in Adult Male Rats.”

Journal of Food Science. “Effects of Cooking Conditions on the Lycopene Content in Tomatoes.”

Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “Tomatoes, Tomato-Based Products, Lycopene, and Cancer: Review of the Epidemiologic Literature.”

Mayo Clinic. High Cholesterol.

Nutrients. “Lycopene Supplement and Blood Pressure: An Updated Meta-Analysis of Intervention Trials.

Rogel Cancer Center, Michigan University. “Lycopene Supplements.”

Scientific Reports. “Tomatoes protect against development of UV-induced keratinocyte carcinoma via metabolomic alterations.”

Susan G. Komen Foundation. “Lycopene.”

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “Lycopene and Cardiovascular Disease.”

The Journal of Nutrition. “Dietary Tomato Paste Protects against Ultraviolet Light–Induced Erythema in Humans.”

The New England Journal of Medicine. “Lycopenemia: a variant of carotenemia.”

The University of Sheffield. “Dietary supplement from tomatoes discovered to boost sperm quality.”