About Lycopene Lycopene is an antioxidant carotenoid found in many fruits and vegetables as a red pigment. Lycopene levels in the body decline with age, with higher body weight, and with smoking.Epidemiological studies show that high intake of lycopene-containing vegetables correlates with low incidence of certain types of cancer. For example, in Italy the consumption of tomato products decreases the risk of digestive tract cancer. Research suggests that lycopene supplementation can reduce the risk of cancers of the lung, digestive tract, bladder, prostate, cervix and skin.It has recently been found that some of lycopene's anti-cancer effects require the presence of other substances found in tomato-skin extracts. This is why LifeLink's lycopene product contains a variety of tomato-derived compounds in addition to lycopene itself. Lycopene's activity against prostate cancer is associated with its ability to suppress the conversion of testosterone to DHT.Macular degeneration also declines in frequency with higher lycopene consumption. So does cardiovascular disease, as was shown in a study of American and European men: the men with low levels of lycopene were twice as likely to have a heart attack as those with high levels. Lycopene is thought to slow the body's cholesterol production and to decrease the conversion of cholesterol into LDL (bad) cholesterol.