Overview
- On Wednesday, consumer articles cited studies claiming cooked or processed tomatoes can have as much as four times more bioavailable lycopene than raw tomatoes.
- Heating breaks plant cell walls and converts bound forms of lycopene and beta‑carotene into forms the body can absorb more easily.
- Adding a small amount of fat such as olive oil with cooked tomatoes improves uptake because lycopene and provitamin A are fat‑soluble.
- Canned tomatoes are often processed when fully ripe and so frequently contain higher lycopene concentrations than tomatoes harvested green and ripened after shipment.
- Reports link tomato phytonutrients to possible heart and metabolic benefits and to lower prostate cancer risk in some analyses, but articles note the strength of evidence varies and pollen or latex‑allergic people can have tomato‑related reactions.