Lycopene-A Scientific Overview,What is Lycopene and its sources,Actions and Pharmacology.Tomato Extract Lycopene
Article Content:
- .Lycopene:A Scientific Overview.
- .What are antioxidants and its importance?
- .What is Lycopene and its sources?
- .Lycopene Actions and Pharmacology.
- .Lycopene Brief Benefit and Common Knowledge.
- .More Lycopene Health Benefits.
- .Lycopene Uses based on scientific evidence.
- .Indications and Usage:Research Summary.
- .Safety and Toxicity:Lycopene.
- .How Search engine think about Lycopene.
- .Modern Research and Lycopene Update.
What is Lycopene and its sources?
Lycopene is a powerfull antioxidant. It makes tomatoes red. It is soluble in oils and insoluble in water. Lycopene is easily absorbed by the organism and is naturally present in human plasma and tissues in higher concentrations than the other carotenoids.
Can lycopene only be found in tomatoes?
In our diet, 95% of lycopene intake comes from tomatoes and tomato products. It can also be found in watermelon, pink grapefruit, papaya, and rosehip.
What Role do tomatoes play in the prevention of diseases?
The number of scientific studies and the coherence of the results justify the sentence that eating tomatoes every day decreases the risk of cancers in the upper digestive and respiratory tracts, of the stomach and lungs.
Most studies do not make the distinction between raw and processed tomatoes. A serious study shows that a lower risk of prostate cancer is linked to the consumption of processed tomatoes.
Further studies will show that lycopene has a protective effect, in synergy with other tomato constituents, against certain diseases of the heart, lungs and eyes, as well as against ageing.
It is a proven fact that tomatoes contribute to the intake of antioxidants, vitamins, fibre,and other components that play a major role in public health.
Can the same benefits be obtained from lycopene on its own?
Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant. No doubt, antioxidants also interact with other substances and molecules, producing a synergistic effect that protects human metabolism. So, processed tomatoes are likely to offer more protection than Lycopene on its own.
What affects the content of antioxidants in the raw tomatoes for processing?
Lycopene and other antioxidants are present in the red, ripe, sound fruit. Weather, soil, varieties, and agricultural practices, all, have an effect on the content of antioxidants in the fruit. The biosynthesis of carotenoids is well documented.
What are the effects of processing?
Processing makes lycopene and other components more bioavailable by breaking up the food matrix. Moreover, like other oil soluble substances, lycopene is more readily available when oil is added to the product. A study shows that lycopene is absorbed 2,5 times better from tomato paste than from fresh tomatoes.
What Is Lycopene?
Lycopene is a member of the carotenoid family of chemical substances. Lycopene, similar to other carotenoids, is a natural fat-soluble pigment (red, in the case of lycopene) found in certain plants and microorganisms, where it serves as an accessory light-gathering pigment and to protect these organisms against the toxic effects of oxygen and light. Lycopene may also protect humans against certain disorders, such as prostate cancer and perhaps some other cancers, and coronary heart disease.
Carotenoids are the principal pigments responsible for the colors of vegetables and fruits (see Beta Carotene and Lutein and Zeaxanthin). Lycopene is responsible for the red color of red tomatoes. In addition to tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) and tomato-based products, such as ketchup, pizza sauce, tomato juice and tomato paste, lycopene is also found in watermelon, papaya, pink grapefruit and pink guava. Processed tomato products are more available dietary sources of lycopene than fresh tomatoes. The average daily intake of lycopene is approximately 25 milligrams, with 50% of this in the form of processed tomato products.
Lycopene is an acyclic isomer of Beta-Carotene. Beta Carotene, which contains beta-ionone rings at each end of the molecule, is formed in plants, including tomatoes, via the action of the enzyme lycopene beta cyclase. Lycopene is a 40 carbon atom, open chain polyisoprenoid with 11 conjugated double bonds. The structural formula of lycopene is represented as follows:
Lycopene:
All-trans lycopene is the predominant geometric isomer found in plants. Cis isomers of lycopene are also found in nature, including 5-cis, 9-cis, 13-cis and 15-cis isomers. Lycopene found in human plasma is a mixture of approximately 50% cis lycopene and 50% all-trans lycopene. Lycopene in processed foods, is mainly in the form of the cis-isomer.
Lycopene is a lipophilic compound and is insoluble in water. Lycopene is also known as psi-carotene. Its molecular formula is C40H56 and its molecular weight is 536.88 daltons. In contrast to beta-carotene, lycopene has no vitamin A activity and thus is a nonprovitamin A carotenoid.
Beta-carotene from carrots is known for its antioxidant action. But did you know that there are over 600 known carotenoids besides beta? About 40 are found in the human diet, and not all of them turn into vitamin A. Lycopene is one that does not convert to vitamin A. Lycopene provides stronger antioxidant protection against certain types of free radicals, and may protect against certain types of cancer, better than any nutrient presently known. The carotenoid lycopene makes up about half the carotenes in human sera, yet very little research has been done on it. The few studies that have been conducted look so promising, however, that a symposium was devoted to lycopene in 1998.
Lycopene is what gives tomatoes, watermelons, grapefruits and papaya their red color. A pigment synthesized by some plants and animals to protect them from the sun, lycopene evolved as a weapon against certain types of free radicals. Lycopene is so effective at quenching free radicals, it beat out Vitamin E in one study on oxidized fat. This suggests that lycopene might have importance in preventing heart disease, which involves oxidized LDL cholesterol.
The first evidence for a protective effect in heart disease was reported in the journal Lipids A group from Canada demonstrated that lycopene significantly lowers LDL oxidation in human blood. What's interesting is that lycopene works better in combination with lutein, another Carotenoid which is found mostly in spinach and corn. (Lutein is associated with maintenance of the macula.) People with high cholesterol have been found to have high levels of free radicals and low levels of lycopene and beta-carotene.
Humans get most of their lycopene from tomatoes-by far the richest source-yet tomato products offer a more concentrated source of lycopene than the fresh fruit itself. For example, tomato powder contains approximately 120 milligrams per 100 grams of fruit whereas fresh tomatoes have about 2 milligrams per 100. Since lycopene is a nutrient that can stand the heat, cooked tomato products, such as tomato paste, provide more of it than fresh tomatoes. Spaghetti sauce is an adequate source of lycopene because it contains fat which is necessary for absorption. It has been theorized that heating tomatoes makes their lycopene more absorbable.
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1.Lycopene-A Scientific Overview,What is Lycopene and its sources,Actions and Pharmacology.Tomato Extract Lycopene
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