|
|
|
Lycopene is one of the major carotenoids in Western diets and is found almost exclusively in grapefruit and tomatoes. Interest in lycopene is growing rapidly following the recent publication of epidemiological studies implicating lycopene in the prevention of cancers and cardiovascular disease, and gastrointestinal tract. The consumer demand for red grapefruit makes lycopene a commercially important natural pigment. Among the common dietary carotenoids, lycopene has the highest antioxidant activity . Epidemiological studies in Drs. Clinton and Giovannucci laboratories at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School in Boston have shown that lycopene has direct effects within the prostate and contributes to a significant reduction in prostate cancer risk. Interestingly enough, the mean intake of lycopene increased among white men (9%) and among individuals with 13 years of education or more (12.5%). These trends suggest that the U.S. public has begun to tap into the natural therapeutic power of fruits and vegetables. The linkage between carotenoids and retinoids and the prevention of cancer coronary artery diseases, and advanced age-related macular degeneration heightened the importance of value-added fruits in human diet. Consequently, the National Cancer Institute has recommended that people increase their intake of high carotenoid fruits. Recently, it was reported that lycopene containing fruits and vegetables exert cancer-protective effect via a decrease in oxidative and other damage to DNA in humans. We have some data that showed that grapefruit from Texas had much more lecopene than that in Florida. |
|
|
|
