The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday confirmed that it has not found any strong link between eating lycopene and a reduced risk of certain cancers, shattering retailers’ hope to include labels advertising the beneficial effects on products containing tomatoes.
FDA’s conclusion comes nearly eighteen months after the agency refused a request from some U.S. tomato growers and food companies to allow them to make unfettered claims that both fresh and cooked tomatoes have anti-malignancy properties, and that lycopene, the antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color, is responsible.
The U.S. health watchdog concluded yesterday (July 10) in the journal of the National Cancer Institute that a diet rich in tomatoes and the tomato antioxidant lycopene is not associated with the reduced risk of any type of cancer.
To reach their conclusion, Claudine Kavanaugh and his colleagues of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, Maryland evaluated 145 studies of lycopene, tomato, or tomato product intake and cancer risk.
"The analysis found no credible evidence that lycopene, either in food or in a dietary supplement, was associated with reduced risk of any of the cancers evaluated," said chief researcher, Kavanaugh.
According to Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health who wrote an editorial accompanying the report, the health agency's conclusions should not be interpreted as confirmation that tomatoes are not beneficial in preventing prostate cancer as the report showed a little evidence for associations between tomato consumption and reduced risk of prostate, ovarian, gastric and pancreatic cancers.
"Although it may be premature to espouse increased consumption of tomato sauce or lycopene for prostate cancer prevention, this area of research remains promising," Giovannucci said.
Some earlier studies claim that the lycopene found in tomatoes has cancer-preventing properties. But the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition says there is no credible evidence that intake of lycopene cuts the risk of cancer.
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