Prevent Prostate Enlargement With Lycopene

Prevent Prostate Enlargement With Lycopene
by Robert Rister

tomatoes don't just protect against cancer.

A research team at Germany's University of Hohenheim led by Dr. Silke Schwarz has
found that tomatoes can relieve the kind of prostate enlargement called benign
prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), too.

What's BPH?

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is that all too common condition of dribbling, getting up
to go to the toilet at night, weak urine flow, and feeling of that the bladder never gets
really empty that affects 10 per cent of men over 50 and 90 per cent of men over
80. BPH is caused by healthy prostate cells growing in an unhealthy way that can
foretell prostate cancer.

When the German researchers gave men with cancer-free men with BPH either 15
mg of lycopene or a placebo every day for six months, they found that the men who
got the lycopene had no enlargement of the prostate, whereas the men who got the
sugar pill had prostate enlargement detected by the well-known "digital (finger)
exam" and ultrasound.

Lycopene supplements also lowered PSA. The German research team used a
lycopene supplement called LycoVit.

The simplest way to be sure you get 15 mg of lycopene a day, of course, is to take
a supplement that contains at least 15 mg of lycopene, once a day.

But it's also easy to get 15 mg of lycopene from tomatoes. That's the amount of
lycopene in one ounce (28 g) of sun-dried tomatoes or one-and-one-half ounces
(42 g) of tomato paste. You'd need two-thirds of a cup (160 ml) of tomato juice or
vegetable juice cocktail.

There's actually more lycopene in watermelon and guavas than there is in tomatoes.
There's even a little in shrimp. The problem with using these foods as a source of
lycopene is that your body absorbs lycopene better if it's consumed with just a little
fat.

You could deep-fry your shrimp, of course, but not very many people care for fat on
their watermelon and guavas. That's why tomatoes are the most popular
lycopene-rich food.

About The Author

Robert Rister is the author or co-author of nine books on natural health including the
critically acclaimed Complete German Commission E Monographs and Healing
without Medication. Visit his growing collection of evidence-based articles on natural
self-healing at .

Natural health experts have been
telling men for a long time that the
lycopene in tomatoes can protect
against prostate cancer. In 1999 the
well-respected Journal of the National
Cancer Institute reported that men
who eat four to five servings of
tomatoes (preferably tomato paste,
but other forms also work) were 25
per cent less likely to develop
prostate cancer than men who ate
tomatoes only rarely or never at all.

That news got millions of men over
50 eating lots of tomatoes. But
recent research reports that

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The content on
this website is for educational purposes only. Please consult with your physician before using natural
remedies and before making any drastic changes to your diet or exercise program.