Introduction
The question regarding what foods contain lycopene has a fairly simple answer because there are several sources for this nutrient. While tomatoes are among the commonest, they are not the richest, and the available amount also depends on the processing. So if one is going to get this from their diet, knowledge of what foods contain lycopene is helpful in deciding the best source.
Rosehip Vitamin C
Sources
The list of what foods contain lycopene includes several fruits and vegetables among which are: rosehip, gac, pink grapefruit, tomatoes, wolfberry, pink guava, seabuckthorn, watermelon, red bell pepper and papaya.
While gac - a native fruit of south east Asia - is the richest source with a concentration of between 2000 -2300 micrograms per gram, it is not found much elsewhere. It is however a promising source for commercial production.
Tomatoes - with a raw concentration of between 9 and 42 micrograms per gram account for the commonest source of dietary intake for most people. When all their processed forms are included, they account for 85% of the dietary intake in the United States.
It may seem strange, but the more that tomatoes are processed, the more available this nutrient becomes. This is contrary to what we generally find with most fruit and vegetables for example we lose vitamin C with cooking. In contrast, products like tomato paste, tomato puree, ketchup, juices etc contain more bioavailable compound than raw tomatoes.
So crushing and cooking tomatoes increases the availability. In fact the compound in tomato paste is four times more available than that in fresh tomatoes.
The compound is described as lipophilic which means it loves oils and fats in which it dissolves. On the other hand it literally hates water and is not soluble in it. Dishes that are rich in oil such as pizza and spaghetti sauce greatly increase the absorption from the digestive system into the blood stream.
Most leafy fruit and vegetables (with the notable exception of gac) are low in fats and oils. If one needs to maximize the absorption from these sources then they need to supplement with some oil and fat.
Can one get it from supplements?
As we have seen, bioavailability may be an issue and we need oil to maximize absorption. We have also seen that there are different concentrations in different sources. So while diet is a good source, getting a known amount and ensuring that it is maximally absorbed can be a challenge.
A nutritional supplement may help to get around this. The best is often a multi-ingredient nutritional formulation rather than a single substance nutraceutical which lacks the support of other compounds and co-factors that maximize effectiveness.
I am aware from personal use of a product that contains at least 90 ingredients including resveratrol, green tea, policosanol, multi-vitamins, ginko biloba, trace elements and many others. Clearly the cancer fighting properties of resveratrol and green tea when added to the powerful antioxidant effects of lycopene make such a combination hard to beat.
So although we know a bit about what foods contain lycopene, there is much more. If you would like to know more especially about the multi-ingredient supplements that can help you realize the full benefits of lycopene, then please visit my website today.
Want More Antioxidants? Find Out What Foods Contain Lycopene
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