Lycopene is a plant nutrient having antioxidant properties. It is a pigment that gives fruits & vegetables such as tomatoes, watermelon & pink grapefruit their characteristic color. It offers numerous health benefits ranging from healthy heart, protection from sun burn to various types of cancer. It protects your body from damage caused by compounds such as free radicals. To give you more perspective on how free radicals impact our health, consider this: Free Radicals are unstable molecules which come out of normal metabolic processes & can damage cells of our body. When free radical levels outnumber antioxidants levels, it can create oxidative stress in your body which is linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease & Alzheimer.
Antioxidant properties of Lycopene can keep free radical levels in balance protecting your body against some of these conditions. It also protects your body against the damage caused by pesticides, herbicides & certain types of Fungi. Besides it also prevents growth of cancer cells in kidneys. High intake of Lycopene reduces the risk of lung & prostate cancer by 50%.
Lycopene promotes heart health
Lycopene lowers the risk of prematurely dying from heart disease by reducing the likelihood of heart disease factors, specifically it reduces LDL(bad cholesterol) level & increases HDL (good cholesterol) level. High blood levels of Lycopenes are said to add years to live of people having metabolic syndrome.
Lycopene’s protective effects appear particularly beneficial to those with low blood antioxidant levels or high levels of oxidative stress. This includes older adults and people who smoke or have diabetes/ heart disease.
Lycopene protects against Sunburn
Lycopene offers protection against damaging effects of the sun. Daily intake of 8 to 16 grams of Lycopene either from food or supplements helps reduce the intensity of redness following exposure to UV rays by 50%.
Other benefits
Lycopene offers host of other benefits such as,
- Improves eyesight: Lycopene may prevent or delay the formation of cataracts and reduce your risk of macular degeneration.
- Reduce pain: Lycopene reduces neuropathic pain, a type of pain caused by tissue damage.
- Protect brain: Lycopene’s antioxidant properties help prevent memory loss experienced in age related diseases.
Foods rich in Lycopene
- Tomato Puree
- Sun dried tomatoes
- Guava
- Watermelon
- Fresh tomatoes
- Papaya
8-21 mg per day of Lycopene intake is benefits for our overall health.
