According to a Reuters Health article published in March 2007 about a Ohio State University study, orange tomatoes, as opposed to traditional red-colored tomatoes, contain more lycopene than regular tomatoes. As it turns out, due to the extra lycopene these orange colored tomatoes have more nutritional value.

What is Lycopene?

Lycopene is an antioxidant, a molecule that slows or completely prevents oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation, for the human body, is a dangerous chemical reaction that causes the proliferation of free radicals. And what are free radicals? Free radicals are highly reactive, unstable atoms that have an unpaired electron. The unpaired electron makes it more likely for the free radical to start a chain of chemical reactions. Free radicals play a part in processes such as combustion and atmospheric chemistry; in the human body, free radicals are associated with chain reactions that damage cells and may even be a contributing cause of cancer.

This is where antioxidants such as lycopene come in, and it is why foods, juices, and supplements with antioxidant properties have become so popular in recent years. Orange tomatoes, it turns out, may be heroes in the fight against cancer.

What’s in that Spaghetti Sauce?

During the Ohio State University study, scientists took blood samples of subjects before and after a spaghetti dinner. Subjects who ate the orange sauce made with the orange tomatoes absorbed two and a half times more lycopene than subjects who ate traditional red marinara sauce. The head researcher, Dr. Steven Schwartz, also suggests that consumers can try gold-colored tomatoes, which also have a higher lycopene content.

Other Fruits and Vegetables with Lycopene

While tomatoes certainly have the highest concentration of lycopene amongst fruits and vegetables, for tomato haters, there are other vegetables to choose from as well that have a relatively high lycopene content.

Sauteed sweet red peppers have a good deal of lycopene, and raw red peppers also contain lycopene, but slightly less than cooked red peppers. Fresh, cooked asparagus is a source of lycopene, as is red cabbage.

For those who still refuse to eat their vegetables, there is good news: some fruits, in particular watermelon, also contain lycopene. Pink grapefruit and pink guava contain small amounts of lycopene; papaya, rosehip, and apricots all contain a small amount of lycopene.

Is it possible to have too much lycopene in one’s diet? Lycopene is non-toxic and is not related to any ill side-effects; however, fans of foods with high lycopene, especially tomatoes, may find their skin turn a slightly orange sheen. This is not an old wives’ tale but was actually documented by the German scientist Wilhelm Stahl in 1996.

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