Lycopene benefit in prostate cancer
is not clear

Lycopene (a beta-carotene) is an antioxidant that is rich in “red family” foods like tomatoes, watermelons, and pink grapefruits. It’s also in apricots, persimmons, papaya, and guava.

Antioxidants are beneficial because they may prevent the risk of cancer by blocking the actions of free radicals that have been associated with causing cell damage. However, more studies are needed to confirm the overall benefit of lycopene, including whether supplements offer the same benefit as foods that are rich in this antioxidant. Studies are also needed to determine if raw “red family” foods are more beneficial than cooked foods.

Several years ago, the general consensus seemed to be that this antioxidant might help prevent prostate cancer. However, more recent research (and subsequent opinions) appear to be mixed about whether either foods or supplements that contain this antioxidant can help prevent prostate cancer, or slow or prevent prostate cancer progression.

For example, the very large Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, an ongoing, randomized National Cancer Institute trial, concluded that it does not effectively prevent prostate cancer.

However, the Prostate Cancer Foundation states on their web site that the PLCO study just confirms that there is no benefit when taken for the short-term. They point to data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) and the Physicians' Health Study (PHS), which demonstrated that 2-4 servings of tomato sauce a week consumed at a steady rate over many years may prevent prostate tumors from progressing to more advanced stages.

Other studies also provide conflicting reports:

• Vaishampayan et al concluded that lycopene (and soy isoflavones) may have activity in prostate cancer patients with PSA relapse disease and may delay progression of both hormone-refractory and hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, in their small study where 38 men took a 15 mg supplement twice day for 6 months


• In a study of 18 men who had advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancer, Schwenke et al concluded that there was no clinically relevant benefit for men who took a 15 mg supplement every day for six months


• Barber and Barber reported on a study of 15 men with organ-confined prostate cancer who took 15 mg supplements twice a day for 3 weeks prior to radical prostatectomy. There was a statistically significant decrease in PSA values, and men who took the supplements had smaller volume tumors, and their surgical margins were less likely to be positive. But this was a very small study so the results are not conclusive


• In a nonhuman study, Bureyko et al reported that lycopene had no effect on the growth of cultured prostate cancer cells

Vaishampayan U, Hussain M, Banerjee M, Seren S, Sarkar FH, Fontana J, Forman JD, Cher ML, Powell I, Pontes JE, Kucuk O. Lycopene and soy isoflavones in the treatment of prostate cancer. Nutr Cancer. 2007;59(1):1-7.