Lycopene: the carotenoid from tomatoes

In short: lycopene is the bright red plant pigment from the carotenoid group, found above all in tomatoes and tomato products. It is best absorbed not from the raw tomato, but from cooked tomato dishes with a little oil – heat and fat make it accessible to the body.

You slice open a ripe tomato and the juice stains the board deep red – this shade has a name and a whole science behind it. Lycopene is one of the most intensively researched plant pigments of all, and yet most people do exactly the wrong thing in preparation when they want to take in as much of it as possible. Here you get both: what lycopene really is and how, in practical terms, to bring it into your everyday life most cleverly.

What is lycopene – and what does it do in the plant?

Lycopene (also spelled lycopin) is a secondary plant compound from the carotenoid family – that group of pigments which give fruit and vegetables their yellow, orange and red tones. The same family includes the beta-carotene from carrots as well as lutein and zeaxanthin. Chemically, lycopene is a long, chain-shaped molecule with eleven conjugated double bonds. It is precisely this structure that is the reason for the strong colour: the chain swallows the blue-green light and reflects the red portion – which is why we see red.

A crucial difference from many other carotenoids: lycopene is not a provitamin A. The body therefore cannot convert it into vitamin A. It remains lycopene – and, as a fat-soluble molecule, is stored above all in fatty tissue and in certain organs. The riper a tomato, the more lycopene it forms; the colour is thus a direct indicator of ripeness.

Why so many people consciously pay attention to lycopene

Lycopene is one of the reasons why Mediterranean cuisine has been in the focus of nutritional research for decades. In the countries around the Mediterranean, tomatoes end up in almost every warm meal – as sugo, sauce, braised vegetables, always with olive oil. This combination of heat and fat is, as will become clear, precisely the most favourable form for absorbing lycopene. Anyone who deliberately reaches for lycopene today is usually oriented towards this dietary tradition or towards a plant-focused, antioxidant-rich diet.

Lycopene thus joins the large group of antioxidants, which is much researched in connection with free radicals and oxidative stress. Important and honest: this is the context in which people use it – not a promise of effect.

Which foods contain a lot of lycopene?

By far the most important source is the tomato. Interestingly, processed tomato products often deliver significantly more available lycopene than raw tomatoes – cooking bursts open the cell walls and releases the pigment.

For everyday life this means: a spoonful of tomato paste in the sugo often gets you further with lycopene than the salad with raw tomato slices – even if both make sense.

Bioavailability: heat and fat are the key

Lycopene is fat-soluble, and that has concrete consequences for practice. Two levers determine how much your body actually absorbs:

• Heat: during cooking – for example when reducing a tomato sauce – lycopene is released from the solid cell structures and becomes more bioavailable.
• Fat: because lycopene is fat-soluble, a little oil in the meal improves absorption. A dash of olive oil on the sauce is therefore not just flavour, but function.

That's why a cooked tomato sauce with oil is regarded as a classic "lycopene bomb." We explain the general principle behind this in detail in the guide Bioavailability explained simply. As a fat-soluble substance, lycopene behaves similarly to the fat-soluble vitamins – as you can read, for example, in Nutrients for the eyes, where related carotenoids play a role.

How to get more lycopene out of everyday life

• Let tomato sauce simmer for a long time rather than heating it briefly.
• Always add some high-quality oil – olive oil fits in terms of taste and function.
• Tomato paste is an underrated concentrate: one or two spoonfuls go a long way.
• Watermelon in summer is a refreshing, often overlooked source.

Lycopene in the system of carotenoids

To place lycopene in context, it helps to look at its relatives. Carotenoids are roughly divided into two groups: the pure hydrocarbons (carotenes) and the oxygen-containing xanthophylls. Lycopene and beta-carotene belong to the carotenes, while lutein and zeaxanthin as well as astaxanthin belong to the xanthophylls. Each of these pigments has its own colour spectrum and its own preferred source – and it is precisely this variety that is the reason why a colourful vegetable platter is nutritionally more than just nice to look at. Anyone who regularly reaches for red, orange and green plant colours automatically covers a broad carotenoid spectrum.

Unlike beta-carotene, lycopene contributes nothing to the vitamin A supply, because it is not converted. That does not make it secondary in any way, however – it simply has a different role: that of an independent plant pigment that the body stores unchanged. This storage also explains why lycopene levels in tissue build up only slowly over weeks and are not "filled up" by a single tomato-rich meal.

Common misconceptions about lycopene

Some persistent half-truths circulate around lycopene. Three of them are worth setting straight:

• "Fresh is always better than tinned": with lycopene, the opposite applies. Sieved tomatoes and tomato paste often deliver more available lycopene than the raw fruit, because heating releases the pigment.
• "The redder, the healthier": the colour indicates the degree of ripeness and thus tends to indicate more lycopene – but a health promise cannot be derived from it.
• "Lycopene is a vitamin": no. It is a secondary plant compound, not a vitamin and not an essential nutrient in the strict sense.

Anyone who knows these points can classify advertising promises much better – a principle that also applies to other plant compounds and that we explore in more depth in Reading labels correctly.

What research is investigating

Lycopene is one of the most intensively researched carotenoids. What is scientifically well established is first of all the basics: its chemical structure, its role as a plant pigment and its property of scavenging free radicals in the test tube – lycopene is among the effective radical scavengers of the carotenoids. Beyond that, research investigates how well the body absorbs lycopene from various sources, what role processing and fat play and how it is distributed in tissue.

Honestly classified: much around possible health effects is discussed and further researched, but not conclusively clarified. For lycopene, no health claims are currently authorised in the EU. We therefore do not attribute to it any specific effect on individual body functions – but we may indeed say that it is an excitingly researched, natural component of a tomato-rich diet.

An honest classification: what is certain and what is not

• Certain: lycopene is a carotenoid, responsible for the red colour, fat-soluble, not a provitamin A, richest in tomatoes.
• Well established: heat and fat improve absorption; processed tomatoes deliver more available lycopene.
• Open / under research: concrete health effects in humans – here restraint applies, no authorised claims.

Matching products & guides from Scheunengut

If plant pigments and carotenoids interest you, it's worth looking into our categories Longevity and Rosehip as well as the full overview All products. You can go deeper into the topic with our guides on What are antioxidants?, the Antioxidant overview, Lutein & zeaxanthin for the eyes, the Astaxanthin from the microalga and the related polyphenol topic Resveratrol from the grape.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Is cooked or raw tomato better for lycopene?

For lycopene absorption, cooked tomato is clearly at an advantage. Heat bursts open the cell structures and releases the pigment, so that processed tomato products such as sauce, sieved tomatoes or tomato paste often deliver more available lycopene than raw tomatoes. Ideal is the combination of cooking and a little oil.

Is lycopene converted into vitamin A?

No. Unlike beta-carotene, lycopene is not a provitamin A. The body does not convert it into vitamin A, but stores it as an independent carotenoid, above all in fatty tissue and in certain organs.

Why should you add oil to tomatoes?

Lycopene is fat-soluble. A little oil in the meal – for example olive oil on the tomato sauce – therefore significantly improves absorption from the gut. That is the reason why the Mediterranean combination of tomatoes and olive oil is regarded as particularly favourable.

Are there authorised health claims for lycopene?

No, no health claims are currently authorised for lycopene in the EU. It is indeed intensively researched, but concrete health effects may not be attributed to it. Anyone who wants to take in lycopene through the diet is best served by cooked tomato dishes with a little oil.