Lycopene Alone Doesn't Do It

Have y'all heard about that study that shows lycopene supplements to be all but worthless.

The folks doing the study concluded that the lycopene, in conjunction with some as yet other constituents in tomatoes, is what retards cancer. Their advice: Get your lycopene the old fashioned way by eating tomatoes.

We could have told them that! :-)

Many studies have shown that lycopene can sometimes retard cancer, but almost all the studies have shown that you have to COOK the tomatoes to release the most lycopene.

So taking supplement pills can 't do a darn thing.

I don't know about an unknown substance being the active ingredient as regards cancer prevention, but I do know there's a pretty darn good correlation between cooked tomatoes and lycopene release and possible postive effects.

I last reviewed this area, in depth, maybe last Spring.

Carolyn, primarily a raw tomato lover

Carolyn, while I applaud your conclusion that supplements don't do anything, I don't understand the path you took to get there.

And please, don't take this wrong, because the last thing I want to do is defend supplements of any kind. But....

If lycopene, by itself, is a cancer retardent; and if we synthesize the lycopene from tomatoes (or watermelons, for that matter), we then have the "pure" cancer retardent. Converting that to a pill, or adding it to other ingredients in a pill, still makes it lycopene.

Those of us involved in herbalism have long known, and preached, that the whole herb is almost always more effective than the synthesized active ingredient because of synergisms that exist. For instance, milk thistle seed does a much better job as a hepatonic than does taking silymarin capsules. In short, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

My understanding of the study is that they reached the same conclusion. That, yes, lycopene may be a cancer retardant, but that it works best when the entire tomato is eaten.

You're right, of course, that the lycopene is released better when the tomatoes are cooked. So, in that respect, tomato sauce is more of a cancer retardant than are raw tomatoes (more's the pity). But it's still the tomato itself that is medicinal, whereas the supplements are not.

So taking supplement pills can 't do a darn thing

Brook,

That was my knee jerk wrong answer.

Meaning, I don't know how true that really is.

I'd have to go back and look at the various studies to see what was being used as a lycopene source.

And right now I just don't have time to do that.

Carolyn

I've read a little about lycopenes and found that tomato sauces really are the more effective source (too bad) especially when they contain oils, which I assume absorb lycopene and act as a carrier.

I haven't heard about the study, but one supplement company (and I think only one) made the same conclusion years ago that that Brook mentioned...compounds like carotenoids (and now lycopenes)don't exist as single compounds in their natural state, but as part of a complex that does far more than the single molecule under study. Unfortunately, most supplement companies are in the business of supporting the pharmaceutical companies that started them. I guess if you can sell a molecule, synthesize it.