Study Confirms Power of Lycopene

tne2210 Study Confirms Power of Lycopene Recent research provides new evidence that levels of lycopene are maintained or even increased when tomatoes are processed into soups, sauces and ketchup Tomato & Health September 2001

The latest research provides new evidence that levels of lycopene are maintained or even increased when tomatoes are processed into soups, sauces and ketchup. Lycopene is the ingredient in tomatoes that makes them red and it's also the ingredient tied increasingly to important health benefits. A recent article in the Spring 2001 edition of the Journal of Medicinal Food discusses evidence that lycopene, the powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes, retains or increases its potency during processing and storage. ``Lycopene Content of Tomato Products: Its Stability, Bioavailability and In Vivo Antioxidant Properties'' was written by nutrition researchers Venket Rao, Ph.D., Anita Agarwal, Honglei Shen and Sanjiv Agarwal, Ph.D. Research from across the world in recent years has strongly suggested that lycopene may help fight prostate cancer and other forms of cancer, heart disease and various illnesses. Previous research has indicated that processing may make lycopene more available to the body by extracting it from the tomato cell walls. Also, the heating process seems to change the chemical structure of lycopene and make it more bioavailable, i.e. useable by the body. ``Dr. Rao and the rest of this team continue to break new ground in studying the bioavailability of lycopene,'' said Dr. David Yeung, Ph.D., director, corporate nutrition, H.J. Heinz Company. ``This new study is among the first to show that lycopene maintains its antioxidant properties during the actual processing and continues to maintain it during storage of up to 12 months.'' ``We were very excited about the results,'' said Dr. Rao, a full professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. ``Although much research remains to be done, we were glad to contribute to the growing evidence that processed tomato products provide the many potential health benefits of lycopene.'' Dr. Yeung and Dr. Rao recently co-authored Unlock the Power of Lycopene: REDefining Your Diet for Optimum Health, published by arpr, inc., of Pittsburgh. (See also our article “New book on Antioxidant”, in the present issue).

(Sources : HJ Heinz Company Press Release, July 2001 )