ABSTRACT
Lycopene, the carotenoid present at high concentrations in tomatoes and tomato products, has attracted considerable attention recently as epidem i ological evidence continues to suggest that it may provide protection against cancer and other degenerative diseases influenced by free radical reactions (Bendich, 1989; Block et al., 1992; Gey, 1993; Giovannucci et al., 1995). For example, a recent comprehensive review of 72 independent epi demiological studies revealed that intake of tomatoes and blood lycopene level are inversely associated with the risk of developing cancers at several anatomical sites including the prostate gland, stomach, and lung. Data were also suggestive of the inverse relationship between lycopene intake and the risk of breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, oral cavity, and pancreatic cancers (Giovannucci, 1999). These observational findings have been sub stantiated by studies with laboratory data from hum an cell cultures and animals that show lycopene to be very effective in trapping free radi cals and quenching singlet oxygen-protecting oxidizable substrates from harmful degradative reactions (Wang et al., 1989; Countryman et al., 1991;
Conn et al., 1991; Nagasawa et al., 1995; Matsushima-Nishiwaki et al., 1995; Kim, 1995; Stahl and Sies, 1996).
