What is "lycopene"?

What is "lycopene"?

Susan Silberstein & Marilyn Joyce (Health and Nutrition Educator & Heath Counselor) gives expert video advice on: What are "antioxidants"? and more...

Lycopene is what makes tomatoes red or watermelon red. It's actually a family of phytochemicals that have been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men, and recently they've discovered a reduction potential for breast cancer in women. However It is actually the substance that creates the red colour in different fruits and vegetables. It's interesting because one of the most important things that I try to teach my clients is if you seek out the rainbow of colours as much as possible on an every day basis, you're going to get all of these nutrients into your body in one form or another. With lycopene the interesting part is that often times they found that, for example, with tomatoes, you might actually be better off to have tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, or cooked tomatoes in some form or another in order for the tomato to be bioavailable.