Lycopene - sources and benefits

Abstract

Introduction: Lycopene is a bright red carotenoid pigment. Chemically, lycopene is a carotene, but it has no vitamin A activity. It’s also known as rhodopurpurin (common name) and the scientific name is non-provitamin A carotenoid. Materials and methods: Advanced bibliographic study. Results: Carotenoids such as lycopene are important pigments found in pigment-protein complexes from plants, photosynthetic bacteria, fungi and algae. It is responsible for bright colors of the fruits and vegetables, has different functions in photosynthesis and protects photo synthetic organisms from damage due to excessive light. The fruits and vegetables with a high concentration of lycopene are: sun dried tomatoes (45902pg per 100 grams), tomato puree (21754pg per 100 grams); guava (5204pg per 100 grams); watermelon (4532pg per 100 grams) ; tomatoes (cooked) (3041 pig per 100 grams) ; papaya (1828pg per 100 grams); grapefruit (1 135pg per 100 grams); sweet red peppers (cooked) (484}ig per 100 gram s); dried herbs & spices (basil) (393 pg per 100 grams) ; liver (chicken, cooked) (25pg per 100 grams). Although gac (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) has the highest content of lycopene of any known fruit or vegetable, up to 70 times more than tomatoes for example,due to gac's rarity outside its native region o f southeast Asia, tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, juices, and ketchup account for more than 85% o f the dietary intake of lycopene for most people. Nowadays, the lycopene is included in a number of food supplements, such as: Licopen (Medicer Bio - lycopene 25 mg, flax flour 200 mg); Lycopene - 10 mg(Puritan‘s Pride); Lycopene -10 mg (Biovea). Due to its antioxidant properties, lycopene is thought to play a role in preventing cancer and heart disease, lowers LDL levels, enhances the immunity, protects the enzymes. One of the most important benefits of the lycopene is the prevention and treatment of cancer - lung cancer, stomach cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer and particularly prostate cancer. Conclusions: The beneficial effects of lycopene determine us to initiate research to assess the lycopene content in different plant sources available on the market as well as some food and dietary supplements.