All you need to know about Natural Lycopene

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Introducing Lycopene

Lycopene is a lipophilic carotenoid compound, found predominantly in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, including watermelon, papaya and guava. Lately, lycopene has been extensively studied in numerous epidemiological, experimental and clinical trials for its potential beneficial effects on human health, displaying antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and cardioprotective activities¹. It’s also considered to be one of the most powerful antioxidants, being 10 times stronger than alpha-tocopherol and twice as potent as beta-carotene². Since it is a lipophilic molecule, it helps prevent lipid peroxidation, as well as protects against DNA damage by inducing enzymes of the cellular antioxidant defence system³.

Lycopene bioavailability from fresh tomatoes is very low in humans, while thermal treatment and processing improve its absorption. Processed tomato-based products, such as tomato juice, paste, ketchup and soup, provide lycopene with enhanced bioavailability³. However, in order to benefit from the effects, these would need to be consumed in large amounts each day⁴. Natural lycopene supplement formulations present an easier and effective way to improve lycopene absorption and avoid the consumption of highly processed foods, which often contain a long list of unknown ingredients⁵.

Beneficial Effects

Lycopene has been shown to support different areas of human health:

• Cardiovascular HealthLycopene has been widely studied for its cardiovascular activities, indicating improvements to endothelial and metabolic function, as well as blood pressure control ^{3, 6-8}
• Prostate HealthIncreased lycopene intake has been widely investigated in several epidemiological and clinical trials, showing to support prostate health by reducing oxidative DNA damage and inducing specific enzymes that protect against exogenous toxins^{9, 10}
• Male Fertility HealthLycopene supplementation has been reported to decrease lipid peroxidation and DNA damage, and subsequently improves sperm quality, including sperm count, viability and normal morphology^{11, 12}

What is Sibelius™:LactoMato?

Sibelius™:LactoMato is a unique proprietary, patented formulation, in which natural tomato extract, standardised to lycopene, has been embedded in a whey protein matrix. This minimises particle size, resulting in enhanced absorption. The bioavailability of Sibelius™:LactoMato has also been tested in a healthy volunteer trial, and lycopene in our formulation was found to be 240% more bioavailable than raw lycopene from fresh tomatoes⁵.

Sibelius™: LactoMato was developed following years of research into the Mediterranean diet and lycopene’s health-promoting properties. It has been subject to several clinical studies in the areas of cardiovascular and men’s health. Sibelius™:LactoMato’s latest study has focused on the area of male reproductive health, with fifty-six healthy men receiving the product for 12 weeks. This daily supplementation significantly improved sperm quality by around 40%, as measured by the proportion of fast progressive sperm and sperm with normal morphology¹².

If you’d like to learn more about our patented natural Lycopene complex, you can download the white paper by filling the form below.

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¹ Kerkel, M. et al. Review Article: Antioxidant and anti-proliferative properties of lycopene. Free Radical Research, 2011; 45(8): 925-940.
² Agarwal, S. and Rao, A. K. Tomato lycopene and its role in human health and chronic diseases. CMAJ, 2000; 163(6): 739-744.
³ Mozos, I. et al. Review: Lycopene and Vascular Health. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2018; 9(521): 1-16.
⁴ Story, E.N. et al. An Update on the Health Effects of Tomato Lycopene. Annu Rev Food Sci Technol, 2010; 1: 1-24.
⁵ Richelle, M. et al. A Food-Based Formulation Provides Lycopene with the Same Bioavailability to Humans as That from Tomato Paste. Human Nutrition and Metabolism, 2002; 404-408.
⁶ Gajendragadkar, P. R. et al. Effects of Oral Lycopene Supplementation on Vascular Function in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease and Healthy Volunteers: A Randomised Controlled Trial. PLOS ONE, 2014; 9(6).
⁷ Cheng, H.M. et al. Tomato and lycopene supplementation and cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Atherosclerosis; 2017; 257: 100-108.
⁸ Perveen, R. et al. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Carotenoids and Lycopenes Chemistry; Metabolism, Absorption, Nutrition, and Allied Health Claims- A Comprehensive Review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2013; 919-929.
⁹ Chen, P. et al. Lycopene and Risk of Prostate Cancer. Medicine (Baltimore), 2015; 94(33): e1260.
¹⁰ Wertz, K. Lycopene Effects Contributing to Prostate Health. Nutrition and Cancer, 2009; 61(6): 775-783.
¹¹ Majzoub, A. and Agarawal, A. Systematic review of antioxidant types and doses in male infertility: Benefits on semen parameters, advanced sperm function, assisted reproduction and live-birth rate. Arab J Urol, 2018; 16(1):113-124.
¹² Williams, E.A. et al. A randomized placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effect of lactolycopene on semen quality in healthy males. European Journal of Nutrition, 2019; 1-9.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]

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