Eating tomatoes key to avoid cancer:
is lycopene protection from cellular damage?

The latest wave of scientific discovery to reach the public and create a buzz is the research regarding lycopene. Lycopene gives red color to tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, guava and rosehip. The body uses lycopene to make vitamin A as well as to protect the body's cells from damage. In the body, lycopene is stored in the liver, lungs, prostate gland, colon and skin.

Eating lycopene-containing vegetables seems to lower the risk of certain types of cancer. For example, Italians who consume a lot of tomato products appear to have a lower risk of cancer of the digestive tract*. Some research also suggests that lycopene may reduce the risk of cancers of the lung, bladder, cervix and skin. Future studies** will focus on the possibility of lycopene defending against cancers of the digestive tract, breast and prostate cancer. This is wonderful news, the humble tomato can help save you from the threat of cancer, safeguard your vision and improve your digestion.

Some of these studies suggest that heat processing of tomatoes and tomato products increases the body's ability to use lycopene. A word of caution here: before you accept something to be true, look at who sponsored the study and how the study was set up, then draw your own conclusions. In this case the study was sponsored by the H.J. Heinz Company, manufacturers of ketchup and other tomato products. One group did not eat lycopene containing food and instead took lycopene capsules. The other group drank daily portions of processed tomato juice. At the end of the trial period the group drinking the tomato juice had more lycopene in their blood, therefore, scientists concluded that processing somehow makes lycopene easier to absorb.

When I think about this, it seems to me that what they actually tested was whole food vs. synthetic supplement. If they want to prove that processed food is better than fresh, one group should eat whole fresh tomatoes or drink freshly blended tomato juice and the other group should eat canned tomatoes or drink canned tomato juice. Then we would find out whether processed foods or fresh whole foods would result in more lycopene in the blood. Another question is if the lycopene content is dependent on how ripe the tomato is. Probably so. My belief is that whole foods are more than the sum of their parts. So it makes sense that there is more good to be had by eating fresh whole foods than canned and processed foods, especially if you buy it local and ripe. So think before you trade in your fresh tomatoes for canned. But of course, even canned is better than not eating it at all.

*Study of more than 47,000 men by Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health

**including the H.J. Heinz Company sponsored research at the University of Toronto and at the American Health Foundation.

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