What Food Is High In Lycopene?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Unlike most carotenoids, lycopene occurs in a few places in the diet. Besides tomatoes and tomato products, major sources of lycopene, other lycopene-rich foods include

watermelon, pink grapefruit, pink guava, and papaya

. Dried apricots and pureed rosehips contain relatively large amounts, too.

What is the best source of lycopene?

  • Guava: 5.2 mg.
  • Watermelon: 4.5 mg.
  • Fresh tomatoes: 3.0 mg.
  • Canned tomatoes: 2.7 mg.
  • Papaya: 1.8 mg.
  • Pink grapefruit: 1.1 mg.
  • Cooked sweet red peppers: 0.5 mg.

Which fruit is rich in lycopene?

Lycopene makes tomatoes red and gives other orangey fruits and vegetables their color.

Processed tomatoes

have the highest amounts of lycopene, but watermelon, pink grapefruit, and fresh tomatoes are also good sources.

What is the health benefit of lycopene?

Continued. While research is ongoing, lycopene may also

promote good oral health, bone health, and blood pressure

. While more research is needed, studies have found a connection between lycopene intake and cancer prevention — particularly for bone, lung, and prostate cancers.

What other vegetables have lycopene?

High lycopene foods include

guavas

, cooked tomatoes, watermelon, grapefruit, papaya, sweet red peppers, persimmon, asparagus, red cabbage, and mangos.

Do bananas have lycopene?


Bananas were fourth in accumulated lycopene

(31.189±0.001mg/kg). … Lycopene-rich fruits include tomatoes, watermelon, and many more unlikely natural sources of dietary lycopene. An important example of fruits high in lycopene is watermelons.

What are the 5 things you should never eat?

  • Hot dogs. Processed meats in general are just one of the worst things you can put into your body. …
  • Pretzels. Pretzels were the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing type of food. …
  • Diet soda. …
  • Processed pastries. …
  • Fluorescent orange snacks.

Do carrots have lycopene?

Making inferences from both studies, the lycopene in the red carrot is

about 44% as bioavailable

as that from tomato paste. Red carrots provide an alternative to tomato paste as a good dietary source of lycopene and also provide bioavailable β-carotene.

Does lycopene increase testosterone?

Treatment with lycopene

significantly increased testosterone levels

, testes weight, and Bcl-2 mRNA expression, improved tubular structure and decreased malondialdehyde levels, BAX mRNA expression and TUNEL-positive cells.

Does ketchup have lycopene?

It is found that

ketchup contains 9.9–13.44 mg lycopene/100 g

, whereas fresh tomatoes contain 0.88–7.44 mg lycopene/100 g wet weight [22,29]. Bioavailability of lycopene is also greatly affected by dietary composition. … Competition by other carotenoids or cholesterol may also influence lycopene absorption [10].

Is lycopene a blood thinner?

The researchers suggested that lycopene, in addition to its ability to attack free radicals, may also reduce inflammation and cholesterol, improve immune function, and

prevent blood from clotting

. All of these may help reduce ischemic strokes, which are caused by clot-caused blockages in blood flow to the brain.

Is lycopene anti inflammatory?

Recent data suggest that lycopene also

exhibits anti-inflammatory activity

through induction of programmed cell death in activated immune cells.

What are the side effects of lycopene?

Potential adverse effects include

low blood pressure, increased risk of bleeding, and gastrointestinal issues

(3). There have been reports of lycopenaemia, a condition in which the skin turns orange after eating large amounts of lycopene-rich foods (2).

Does cooking tomatoes destroy lycopene?


Yes

—though it’s a bit of a tradeoff, since cooking destroys some other nutrients, notably vitamin C. … What’s more, a study from Cornell University found that increasing the cooking time of tomatoes further increased the amount of lycopene they released, though the effect plateaued after about 15 minutes of heating.

Does boiling apples remove nutrients?


Cooking does destroy some heat-sensitive vitamins

, such as vitamin C and folate. … And in some cases, cooking fruit and vegetables actually makes it easier for the body to absorb the nutrients they contain. “Cooking doesn’t kill all nutrients, and it actually increases bio-availability of others,” Ms Saxelby said.

Which has more lycopene tomatoes or watermelon?

Studies have shown that a cup and a half of watermelon contains about 9 to 13 milligrams of lycopene. On average, watermelon has

about 40 percent more lycopene than raw tomatoes

.

Sophia Kim
Author
Sophia Kim
Sophia Kim is a food writer with a passion for cooking and entertaining. She has worked in various restaurants and catering companies, and has written for several food publications. Sophia's expertise in cooking and entertaining will help you create memorable meals and events.