Lycopene is an intense red carotenoid pigment, a phytochemical discovered in tomatoes and other red fruits. Lycopene is the most typical carotenoid in the body and is among the most powerful carotenoid anti-oxidants. Its name is stemmed from the tomato’s types category, Solanum lycopersicum.
Vegetables and fruits that are high in lycopene consist of not just tomatoes, however watermelon, pink grapefruit, papaya, and rosehip. Practically all lycopene in the American diet plan originates from tomato-containing foods.
Unlike other vegetables and fruits, where dietary material such as vitamin C is decreased upon cooking, processing of tomatoes increases the concentration of bioavailable lycopene. Lycopene in tomato paste is 4 times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. Therefore processed tomato items such as tomato juice, sauce, soup, and catsup include the greatest concentrations of bioavailable lycopene.
The bioavailablity of lycopene is increased by food processing due to the fact that lycopene is so insoluble in water and is so securely bound to veggie fiber. Cooking and squashing tomatoes (as in the canning procedure) and serving in oil-rich meals (such as spaghetti sauce or pizza) considerably increases assimilation from the digestion system into the blood stream.
Lycopene is the most effective carotenoid quencher of singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen from ultraviolet light is a main reason for skin aging.
There is proof that regular consumption of such items is related to decreased threat of heart disease, cancer (specifically prostate cancer), diabetes, osteoporosis, and even male infertility. Lycopene might likewise be associated with a lowered threat of mouth, colon, and oesophageal cancer.
Due to its universality, lycopene has actually been certified for usage as a food coloring.
Lycopene is not water-soluble and quickly discolorations any adequately permeable product, consisting of most plastics. While a tomato stain can be relatively quickly eliminated from material supplied the stain is fresh, blemished plastic defies all efforts to eliminate the lycopene with warm water, soap, or cleaning agent. Bleach will ruin lycopene.
Plastics are particularly prone to staining if heated up, scratched, oiled, or pitted by acids such as those discovered in tomatoes.
Lycopene is an intense red carotenoid pigment, a phytochemical discovered in tomatoes and other red fruits. Lycopene in tomato paste is 4 times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. Therefore processed tomato items such as tomato juice, sauce, catsup, and soup consist of the greatest concentrations of bioavailable lycopene.
While a tomato stain can be relatively quickly eliminated from material offered the stain is fresh, blemished plastic defies all efforts to drive out the lycopene with hot water, soap, or cleaning agent.