Can the consumption of tomatoes or lycopene reduce cancer risk?

Frequent consumers of lycopene-rich foods, such as tomatoes, may have lower cancer risk.

Tomatoes contain abundant amounts of lycopene, which possess potent anti-carcinogenic properties. This study examined the effect of dietary exposure to lycopene and tomatoes on carcinogenesis in humans. Researchers conducted a thorough meta-analysis on data extracted from relevant studies. They observed that regular consumers of tomatoes and other lycopene-rich foods decreased the risk of developing cancer. The results of this meta-analysis show that low cancer risk is associated with generous intake of foods with high content of lycopene.