The exact definition of lycopene is a phytochemical found in red fruits and red vegetables such as tomatoes, being a carotene with a bright red color and a carotenoid pigment but with no vitamin A activity, even though it is chemically a carotene.



People who opt for a nutritional diet and for the alternative treatment to fight the prostate cancer disease should know exactly what mineral supplements and antioxidants are recommended, and the list would be this: magnesium, zinc, selenium, lycopene, calcium, resveratrol or phyto-oestrogens with its two groups: isoflavonoids and lignans, found in berries, nuts and cereals, vitamin C in high doses, also vitamin A and E, amino and essential fatty acids, enzymes.

Lycopene’s antioxidant activity has the benefic result of reversing or stopping the tumor from spreading.

Lycopene is found in apricots, papayas, pink grapefruits, watermelons, red carrots, guava and of course tomatoes, cooked tomatoes.

Research studies like the “Intake of carotenoids and retinol in relation to risk of prostate cancer”, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, concluded that men who served ten or more foods based on tomatoes per week were less likely to suffer from a prostate cancer, decreasing the risk of developing one with about forty five percent.

Also the same study had shown the fact that tomato juice or raw tomatoes offered no or little protection against prostate cancer, instead when tomatoes are cooked their broken cell walls release lycopene in large quantities.

The University of Illinois conducted a research study about the effect of lycopene found in tomatoes on the evolution of the prostate cancer. Thirty two patients with prostate cancer were used for this research study. They underwent a medical examination to find the level of lycopene in their body, the level of prostate specific antigen and the level of oxidative damage to their leukocytes. After three weeks, when daily they were fed with a pasta dish with about thirty mg of tomato juice, the levels of lycopene found in their body had doubled while the PSA level dropped from 10.9 ng/mL to 8.7 ng/mL. The interpretation of this result was that lycopene may have some sort of important role in preventing and treating the prostate cancer.

Studies are still being conducted because there are many unknown things about the effect of lycopene on the prostate cancer but also on the well functioning of the organism. For example, doctors still don’t know what exact daily amount of lycopene is effective against cancer, and even if they found out about that, they still had to verify how this amount could possibly affect the other functions of the prostate or even the whole organism.

It’s an encouraging result the finding of a natural supplement effective enough to prevent the development of the prostate cancer, but until better results come into the open, patients would have to opt for the already available treatments, which for the moment are good enough.