This nutrient can prevent cancer and control blood pressure, but many people simply don’t eat enough!

The most flavorful vegetable is tomato! It is sour and sweet and delicious! But you would never imagine that tomatoes can not only satisfy your appetite, but also bring many unexpected benefits to our body. Most of these benefits are due to a natural ingredient in tomatoes - lycopene. However, it is worth noting that the actual amount of lycopene consumed by Chinese residents is far below the specific recommended value, especially in autumn and winter.

Specific proposed level (SPL): The daily intake level proposed to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases in adults. When the intake reaches the SPL, it may help reduce the risk of disease or mortality.

The "Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study (GNHS)" from 2008 to 2013 found that the average daily intake of lycopene in the diet of residents aged 50 to 75 was only 1.69 mg. Another survey of 134 residents in Jining City, Shandong Province also found that the average intake of lycopene in spring, summer, autumn and winter was 0.75 mg, 2.42 mg, 0.54 mg, and 0.36 mg, respectively. Compared with the specific recommended value of lycopene in the "Chinese Residents' Dietary Nutrient Reference Intake 2023 Edition" - 15 mg per day, it is far from the recommended value, especially in autumn and winter. Many people may wonder: I eat a lot of tomatoes in spring and summer, so why is my lycopene intake not enough? Let's talk about it in detail today.

What exactly is lycopene?

Lycopene is a natural pigment in food, a type of carotenoid, mainly found in ripe tomatoes, but also in fruits such as watermelon and grapefruit. Lycopene ingested by the human body remains basically unchanged in the stomach. It is absorbed and utilized after entering the small intestine, then enters our blood, and then travels with the blood to organs such as the testicles, adrenal glands, liver, adipose tissue, prostate and ovaries. Lycopene has a strong antioxidant capacity, and many studies have confirmed the health benefits of lycopene to the human body.

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1

Prevent cardiovascular disease

A meta-analysis in 2019 showed that daily intake of more than 9.81 mg of lycopene can reduce the risk of stroke, death and cardiovascular disease by 26%, 37% and 14%, respectively; another study published in the same year showed that people who consumed more than 15 mg of lycopene per day had a 17% lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those who consumed less than 3 mg per day.

2

Helps control blood pressure

Intervention studies based on lycopene products have found that they can improve blood pressure and blood lipids, especially in reducing systolic blood pressure and bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol). In addition, tomatoes are rich in the mineral potassium, which is also good for blood pressure control.

3

Protect the prostate

Most current evidence supports that tomato or lycopene intake has a protective effect on prostate health, particularly for advanced prostate cancer, by slowing the progression of the disease.

4

Protect your heart

Lycopene is a type of carotenoid, and among all carotenoids, only lycopene has a preventive and protective effect on acute myocardial infarction. In addition, eating more foods rich in lycopene can also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

5

Protect your skin

We often say that we need to "protect from the sun", but what we are actually preventing is the damage of ultraviolet rays to the skin. The ultraviolet rays of the sun can cause skin burns, aging, and even skin cancer. Long-term exposure to sunlight can cause a decrease in lycopene in the skin, and lycopene can protect the skin from ultraviolet damage and reduce the area and degree of erythema caused by sunlight. Therefore, if you want to protect your skin, you must eat more lycopene.

6

Prevents multiple cancers

Lycopene has antioxidant properties and has a significant inhibitory effect on many cancers, such as esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer, etc. It also has a certain alleviating effect on oral mucosal fibrosis.

7

Preventing osteoporosis

Lycopene can inhibit the action of osteoclasts and promote the proliferation and growth of osteoblasts, which helps to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis. Especially for postmenopausal women, bone loss increases, so they should eat more foods rich in lycopene.

Sources of lycopene intake

What are they?

If you want to supplement lycopene, of course you have to eat foods rich in lycopene. The following table is a list of foods rich in lycopene, you can take a look:

Lycopene content in some foods

From the table above, we can clearly see that in addition to eating tomatoes and tomato products, we can also eat watermelon, grapefruit, red-fleshed pomelo, and guava to supplement lycopene. In addition, compared with tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and tomato juice have higher lycopene content.

Want to get enough lycopene

We recommend tomato sauce

We know that the specific recommended value (SPL) of lycopene in the "Chinese Residents' Dietary Nutrient Reference Intake 2023 Edition" is 15 mg per day. If you want to eat enough lycopene, tomato sauce is the most recommended, and tomato products, such as canned tomatoes, are the second most recommended. First, the lycopene content of products such as tomato sauce and canned tomatoes is indeed higher; second, the human body also absorbs lycopene in these products better. This is because the chemical structure of natural lycopene is a trans configuration, and our human body absorbs cis-configured lycopene better. Heat treatment can convert the trans structure of most natural lycopene into a cis structure, and lipids in the food matrix can promote the release of lycopene. Lycopene after heat treatment with oil is easier to absorb than unprocessed lycopene. Some people may ask: If I heat tomatoes, such as eating tomato scrambled eggs, egg drop soup, etc., can I also increase the intake of lycopene? Answer: Indeed, heating can increase the absorption rate of lycopene. However, because the total amount of tomatoes consumed is limited and the concentration of lycopene in them is relatively low, the required amount of lycopene intake cannot be guaranteed.

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Will taking too much lycopene cause poisoning?

Since lycopene is so good for the body, eat more! At present, the maximum tolerable intake of lycopene in my country is 70mg/day (equivalent to about 25 medium-sized raw tomatoes). Although unabsorbed lycopene will be excreted from the feces, it is very safe and almost not poisoned, but don't eat it crazily, otherwise it may make you "discolor". Long-term and large-dose intake of lycopene may cause lycopeneemia, which manifests as orange skin. This is the same as eating too much carotene will cause carotenemia and the skin will turn "yellow". Both are harmless to health. As long as you stop taking it, the skin will gradually return to its normal color after a period of time. Besides, studies have shown that the lycopene intake of adults in my country is 0.36-2.42mg/day, which is far from the recommended amount of 15mg/day, so what we really need to care about is to try to make up for it, not too much. Finally, a small reminder, when choosing tomato sauce, pay attention to choosing low salt and low sugar content!

References

[1] Chen Jinyao, Zhang Lishi. Research progress on biological effects and applications of lycopene[J]. Journal of Health Research, 2013, 42(02): 336-342. DOI: 10.19813/j.cnki.weishengyanjiu.2013.02.040.

[2] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018

[3] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Reference Intakes of Nutrients for Chinese Residents (2023 Edition)[M]. People's Medical Publishing House. 2023.8

[4] Gu Jingfan, Du Shouyin, Guo Changjiang. Modern Clinical Nutrition. Science Press. 2009. 2nd edition

[5] Zheng Xiaoqing, Luo Rouxuan, Lu Kexin, et al. Research progress on the extraction and functional activity of lycopene[C]//Guangdong Food Society. Healthy Food R&D and Industrial Technology Innovation Summit Forum and 2022 Guangdong Food Society Annual Conference Proceedings. Guangdong Lingnan Specialty Food Science and Technology Key Laboratory, School of Light Industry and Food, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering; China Customs Science and Technology Research Center; Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering Modern Agricultural Engineering Innovation Institute;, 2023:6.DOI:10.26914/c.cnkihy.2023.000012

[6]WANGC,LINGCW,DINGD,etal.Associations of serumcarotenoidswithDXA-derivedbodyfatandfatdistributioninChineseadults:aprospectivestudy[J].JAcadNutrDiet,2020,120(6):985-1001.

[7] “Dietary Reference Intakes for Chinese Residents (2023 Edition)”

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Xue Qingxin, registered nutritionist

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center