The US Food and Drug Administration has given further data on its study showing no positive correlation between eating lycopene and cancer prevention.
The FDA's review, which appears in the July 10 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, refutes numerous studies which have pointed to a link between ingesting lycopene and cutting 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,'' according to chief researcher Claudine Kavanaugh.
The review ‘found no evidence that tomatoes reduced the risk of lung, colorectal, breast, cervical or endometrial cancer.'
However, the report did point to ‘very limited evidence for associations between tomato consumption and reduced risk of prostate, ovarian, gastric and pancreatic cancers.'
But the Administration did hold up some hope, saying that the conclusions were not definitive, and that the prospects for further research “remain promising”.
The FDA undertook the review of 145 studies after a coalition of tomato-growers and tomato-product processors asked permission to include label information about the anti-cancer benefits of tomatoes.
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