Overview
Lycopene — that red stuff in tomatoes is a bane for cancer cells.
Lycopene is an antioxidant found as a red pigment in many fruits and vegetables. Lycopene levels in the body decline with
age, with greater body weight, and with smoking.
Studies show that a high intake of lycopene-containing vegetables correlates with low incidence of certain types of cancer.
For example, in Italy the consumption of tomato products decreases the risk of digestive tract cancer.
Research suggests that lycopene supplementation can reduce the risk of
- lung cancer
- cancers of the digestive tract
- bladder cancer
- prostate cancer
- cervical cancer
- skin cancer
- macular degeneration (loss of detail vision)
- cardiovascular disease.
Some of lycopene’s anti-cancer effects require the presence of other substances found in tomato-skins. This is why LifeLink’s
lycopene product contains a variety of tomato-derived compounds in addition to lycopene itself.
There are many supplements that lower cancer risks — lycopene
is one of them. It makes sense to use more than one, and to
choose them so that they work by different mechanisms. For
example, a combination of lycopene with vitamin D3 (such as LifeLink’s
D3ZO) would be a good choice.
Read Lycopene Monograph
Lycopene is an antioxidant carotenoid found in many fruits
and vegetables as a red pigment. Lycopene levels in the body decline
with age, with higher body weight, and with smoking.
Epidemiological studies show that high intake of
lycopene-containing vegetables correlates with low incidence of certain
types
of cancer. For example, in Italy the consumption of tomato
products decreases the risk of digestive tract cancer. Research
suggests that lycopene supplementation can reduce the risk of
cancers of the lung, digestive tract, bladder, prostate, cervix
and skin.
It has recently been found that some of lycopene’s
anti-cancer effects require the presence of other substances found in
tomato-skin
extracts. This is why LifeLink’s lycopene product contains a
variety of tomato-derived compounds in addition to lycopene itself.
Lycopene’s activity against prostate cancer is associated with
its ability to suppress the conversion of testosterone to DHT.
Macular degeneration also declines in frequency with higher
lycopene consumption. So does cardiovascular disease, as was shown
in a study of American and European men: the men with low
levels of lycopene were twice as likely to have a heart attack as
those with high levels. Lycopene is thought to slow the body’s
cholesterol production and to decrease the conversion of cholesterol
into LDL (bad) cholesterol.
