What are the benefits of lycopene?

Lycopene is a vital phytonutrient (healthy substance found in plants) that is contained in certain foods like tomatoes and grapefruit.

Benefits

• Can be good for an enlarged prostate

• May support healthy blood pressure

• Can act as a blood thinner

• Can help in the regulation of blood lipids

• Can act as anti-inflammatory

• A powerful antioxidant

• Helps boost detoxification in the body

• Has some antitumor properties

• Can help protect against things like hydrogen peroxide

Where to get it

The ability of lycopene to be absorbed and concentrated in the body increases when you heat the substance. For example, if you consumed tomato paste, you would get about 4x more lycopene than if you consumed raw tomatoes.

Additionally, olive oil increases the absorption of lycopene even more. This is because lycopene is a fat-soluble phytonutrient, so it requires bile to absorb it. Therefore, adding fat to a meal containing lycopene can help support the absorption of it.

Sources of lycopene:

• Tomatoes

• Grapefruit

• Goji berries

• Gac

• Asparagus

• Parsley

• Basil