Lycopene Antioxidant Power
To Prevent Cancer

Lycopene is in the bright red, orange and yellow colors found in fruits and vegetables. One fruit loaded with this antioxidant is the tomato. This antioxidant has shown to prevent cancer and lung disease.

Fruits and vegetables that are high in lycopene are
• Tomato
• Gac
• Goji Berry also called wolfberry
• Watermelon
• Bell Pepper
• Papaya
• Pink Grapefruit
• Rosehips

The Americans get their lycopene mostly in tomato based products like salsa, ketchup, paste, juices and spaghetti sauce. Unlike some other nutrients lycopene is enhanced and made more available in the body when cooked which makes this antioxidant easily and conveniently available to most people.

The surprise may be that the largest quanity of this nutrient is not found in the tomato but in Gac fruit. What is Gac fruit you say? That’s what crossed my mind. Gac fruit is and exotic fruit grown in SE asia and has been used their like the Goji Berry for thousands of years. It actually has up to seventy times the lycopene as a tomato. This fruit has only just been introduced to the west and will probably be available in juice form fairly quickly.

Lycopene is also available in good quantity in pink Guava, Watermelon, Papaya, Watermelon, Rose hips and pink Grapefruit in that order.

A Japanese study with mice has shown that tomato juice can prevent emphysema in animals. The control group of mice was given pure water while the test group was given half water and half tomato juice. The mice were then given tobacco smoke for 30 minutes a day five days a week for eight weeks, At the end of the study all the control mice had emphysema and none of the mice who drank tomato juice had the disease. This is a powerful endorsement for lycopene and just the reverse for tobacco products. Here is another reason to stop smoking. Although this does not prove it will help humans it sure cannot hurt.

Dr. Robert J. Rowan has written many articles on subject of lycopene and blood pressure. In the test he has run on his patients he has seen blood pressure lowered by 15% in most patients in just a few weeks.

It has also been shown in tests both in animal studies and in test tube studies that lycopene suppresses the growth of tumors. Many researchers now believe that bad cell to cell communication could be one of the causes of tumor growth and this antioxidant stimulates positive cell to cell communication.

All antioxidants have shown a role in destroying free radicals and thereby reducing the damage to all cells in the body. Lycopene inhibits free radical damage to LDL cholesterol with it’s antioxidant action preventing oxidation to LDL cholesterol. Oxidation of cholesterol is a process that can cause a great deal of cell damage.

This antioxidant may help in the following health conditions.

• Macular Degeneration
• CardioVascular Disease
• Cataracts
• Breast Cancer
• Cervical Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Skin Cancer
• Stomach Cancer

This is another plus for this nutrient and shows once again why fruits and vegetables are extremely important in the human diet. If you cannot get these nutrients from food try whole food supplements.

In accordance with the FDA these products are not intended to treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any diseases. Please consult your health care professional prior to taking dietary supplements. Information on this site is given for educational purposes only and is not to replace the advice of your doctor. If you have a health condition, please seek the advice of a health care professional.

Lycopene to Antioxidants