Lycopin: The Red Colour That Researchers Are Looking At Closely

1. What Is It Actually?

Lycopene is a colour. It is found in plants and gives them a red colour. When you eat something red, you usually eat a small amount of lycopene with it. It is not a vitamin and not a medicine. It is simply a colour that ends up in your food. Researchers count lycopene among the carotenoids. This is a large family of colours from plants. Each colour in this family has its own shade. Lycopene is the red one from the family. There are many studies on lycopene — 779 in total. In 141 of them, people took part. In 39, researchers compared two groups: one group received lycopene, the other received something that looked the same but contained no colour. Such an investigation is called a controlled experiment. This makes it easier to see whether a difference really comes from the lycopene. Many of these studies are small. A small result is a hint, not proof. Researchers therefore say: We already know quite a bit about lycopene. But by no means everything.

2. Where Does It Come From?

Lycopene forms in plants. They produce the red colour themselves. When you eat fruit or vegetables, it comes with them onto your plate and into your body. In red fruit and vegetables it is found together with vitamins, fibre and water — a whole mix of many substances. Such colours are called carotenoids together. In one study, men received lycopene as a capsule. In another, it was about a special form that researchers call lactolycopene. Researchers also like to compare: How does lycopene work on its own, and how does it work in the mix with everything else from the food? Because lycopene is red, a lot of it can colour something strongly.

3. What Do the Researchers Investigate?

In studies, researchers compared lycopene with curcumin — curcumin is another plant colour. Both were tested in people with a change in the oral mucosa. The researchers looked at whether the mucosa changed differently in the two groups. One large study followed adults for many years. It looked at how strong the hand grip remained and how briskly the people walked. This was about carotenoids overall, not lycopene alone. An association is not yet proof. Several studies with adult men focus on sperm cells. In some, the men received lycopene or a sham preparation, and no one knew who received what. What is known: lycopene occurs in food, and it can be studied well. What remains open: whether it has a specific task in the body. This is the question researchers want to clarify next.

4. An Experiment to Think About

Imagine you want to know whether a colour really changes something. How would you find that out? Perhaps like this: You find twenty children. Ten receive a red sweet every day, ten receive a sweet that looks and tastes the same but without colour. No one knows who is in which group — not even you. Only at the end is it revealed. Then you compare. Why the trick with the identical sweet? Because people sometimes already feel better when they believe they are receiving something good. Researchers want to see the colour, not the joy over a sweet. Researchers make exactly such comparisons with lycopene. That is why research takes a long time.

For adults and professionals: the detailed page on lycopene.