Lycopene
Lycopene is the red pigment of tomatoes, watermelon, and pink grapefruit. Unlike beta-carotene, it never becomes vitamin A, and most of it in a Western diet comes from tomatoes and tomato products.
No set daily amount
0.5 mg/kg of body weight a day: EFSA's acceptable daily intake for lycopene
35 mg · a day for a 70 kg adult
- Most per 100 g 45,902µg Sun-dried tomatoes
- Most per portion 6,889µg 1 cup, diced watermelon
- Main sources Tomato products then watermelon, pink grapefruit, and guava
- Best absorbed Cooked, with oil sauce gives more than raw slices
Acceptable daily intake: EFSA group value for lycopene. Food figures per 100 g from USDA FoodData Central.
Foods High in Lycopene
Ranked per 100 g, with what a usual portion gives, limited to 3 foods per category. Foods with a Caltide calorie page link to it.
S
Sun-dried tomatoes
25246 µg in 1 cup
45,902µg / 100 g
G
Guava
2862 µg in 1 fruit
5,204µg / 100 g
Per 100 g vs. a Usual Portion
Why the food that ranks first per 100 g can give less in a real serving.
| Food | Usual portion | Per 100 g | Per portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watermelon | 1 cup, diced (152 g) | 4,532µg | 6889µg |
| Tomatoes | 1 medium (123 g) | 2,813µg | 3460µg |
| Pizza | 1 slice (119 g) | 1,915µg | 2279µg |
A cup of diced watermelon gives 6,889 µg, about 2 times as much as one raw medium tomato, with no cooking needed.
What Is Lycopene?
Lycopene is a carotene, a carotenoid made only of carbon and hydrogen, with 11 conjugated double bonds in an open chain. That fully open chain is why it looks deep red, while beta-carotene, with a ring at each end, looks orange.
What Lycopene Does and Does Not Do
Vitamin A is built from a ring called beta-ionone, which beta-carotene has at each end of its chain. Lycopene has no rings, so it cannot be made into vitamin A at all. What it does well, in test-tube studies, is quench singlet oxygen, a reactive form of oxygen; among common dietary carotenoids it is one of the strongest at this.
Whether that chemistry protects people is a separate question. The best-known link is with prostate cancer: some observational studies found lower risk in men who ate more tomato products, others did not, and the National Cancer Institute notes that no large trial has shown that lycopene supplements prevent it.
Which Red Foods Have Lycopene
Only a few foods carry it. Among foods with a Caltide calorie page, watermelon, tomatoes, and tomato-based pizza have lycopene; red bell peppers, strawberries, cherries, and raspberries have none. Peppers are red from capsanthin and berries from anthocyanins. Pink grapefruit, guava, and papaya are other sources, and yellow tomatoes have little.
Why Cooked Tomatoes Give More Lycopene Than Raw
In a raw tomato, lycopene sits in crystals inside the cells, in a straight form the gut absorbs poorly. Heating breaks the cells, and turns part of it into bent forms that are absorbed more easily. Oil in the sauce then dissolves it. Paste and sauce are also concentrated, since water has been cooked off.
Lycopene in a Typical Day of Food
One ordinary day built from library foods in usual portions, with no supplements. Several foods in it add none.
| Meal | Food | Amount | Lycopene |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Oats | 40g | 0µg |
| Breakfast | Banana | 120g | 0µg |
| Lunch | Tomatoes | 123g | 3460µg |
| Lunch | Mozzarella | 28g | 0µg |
| Snack | Watermelon | 152g | 6889µg |
| Dinner | Pizza | 119g | 2279µg |
| Total | 12628µg |
Only 3 of the 6 foods in this day contain any lycopene, and every one of them is watermelon or tomato, fresh or as pizza sauce.
Common Lycopene Mistakes
Judging by color. A red bell pepper is as red as a tomato and has no lycopene at all. Color shows that a pigment is there, not which one.
Thinking raw is always better. Cooking destroys some vitamin C in tomatoes, but it makes lycopene easier to absorb.
Expecting a pill to copy a diet. The studies that made lycopene famous looked at people eating tomato products, which bring other nutrients along. No trial has shown that a lycopene pill gives the same results.
Lycopene Supplements
Supplements are also a source of lycopene, and it is added to foods as a red color (E 160d).
How Lycopene Supplements Are Made
- Tomato extractextracted from tomatoes, often with other tomato carotenoids
- Syntheticmade by chemical synthesis, the same molecule
- Fungalproduced by the fungus Blakeslea trispora
Choosing a Lycopene Supplement
EFSA set one group acceptable daily intake of 0.5 mg per kg of body weight a day that covers lycopene from all sources, these three and food alike. Take it with a meal that has some fat, as with tomato sauce. No benefit of a supplement over tomato products has been shown.
Sources are listed at the end of this page. Not medical advice.
How to Track Lycopene in Caltide
- Logged automaticallyCaltide adds up the lycopene in every food you log, from a tomato to a slice of pizza, and shows the total in the Nutrition tab. There is no daily target.
- Supplements count tooAdd your supplement once with its lycopene as an ingredient. Each day you tick it off, it counts toward your total.
Lycopene Sources and References
The figures and claims on this page are checked against these sources. Food amounts come from USDA FoodData Central.
Questions About Lycopene
Lycopene is the red carotenoid in tomatoes and watermelon. It is fat-soluble, it is not turned into vitamin A, and the body has no daily requirement for it.
In the Caltide food library, sun-dried tomatoes: 45,902 µg per 100 g. Guava (5,204 µg) and Watermelon (4,532 µg) come next.
Per 100 g of raw fruit, yes. The Caltide food library lists 4,532 µg for watermelon and 2,813 µg for raw tomatoes. Cooked and concentrated tomato products such as paste and sauce hold more.
Yes. Heat breaks down the tomato's cell walls and turns part of the lycopene into forms the gut takes up more easily, and oil in the dish helps it dissolve.
No. The Caltide food library lists 0 µg for red bell pepper and 0 µg for strawberries. Their red comes from other pigments, capsanthin in peppers and anthocyanins in berries.
It is not proven. Some observational studies link diets rich in tomato products to lower prostate cancer risk, but the results are inconsistent, and trials have not shown that lycopene supplements prevent it.
No harm is known from food. Very large amounts of tomato juice over months can turn the skin orange, a harmless condition called lycopenodermia. EFSA set a group acceptable daily intake of 0.5 mg per kg of body weight a day for lycopene.
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