Cancer
Main Findings - Dietary Lycopene

Breast Cancer | Cervical Cancer | Colorectal Cancer | Endometrial Cancer| Gastric/Oral (Upper GI) Cancer | Lung Cancer | Ovarian Cancer | Pancreatic Cancer |
Prostate Cancer | Renal Cancer | Uterine Cancer | Mortality Findings

Breast Cancer- Main findings

  • Data support a neutral, although potentially protective, relationship between dietary lycopene and breast cancer risk.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 10
  • Risk estimates = 10
    • (-) = 4
    • N = 6

Cervical Cancer- main findings

  • Data suggest a possible protective relationship between dietary lycopene intake and cervical cancer risk; however studies are few with limited sample size and the p-value for one ‘protective’ inferring risk estimate was modest (p=0.10).

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 2
  • Risk estimates = 3
    • (-) = 3
  • Risk estimates by Tomato or Lycopene category
    • √GT G. Tom = 1 (-)
    • √Lyc Lyco = 2 (-)

Colorectal Cancer- main findings

  • Data suggest a neutral relationship between dietary lycopene and colorectal cancer risk.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 11
  • Risk estimates (RE) = 11
    • (-) = 2
    • N = 8
    • (+) = 1

Endometrial Cancer- main findings

  • Data suggest a neutral relationship between dietary lycopene and endometrial cancer risk.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 4
  • Risk estimates = 4
    • (-) = 1
    • N = 3

Gastric/oral (Upper GI) Cancer- main findings

  • Data support a neutral, although potentially protective relationship for some people between dietary lycopene and gastric/upper GI cancer risk.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 12
  • Risk estimates = 12
    • (-) = 4
    • N = 8

Lung Cancer- main findings

  • Data support a neutral, although potentially protective, relationship between dietary lycopene and lung cancer risk.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies =6
  • Risk estimates = 6
    • (-) = 2
    • N = 4

Ovarian Cancer- main findings

  • Data suggest a neutral relationship between dietary lycopene and ovarian cancer risk.
  • Menopausal status may be an important factor for determining benefit of lycopene/lycopene-rich foods.
    • One study suggested the benefit of dietary lycopene was specific to premenopausal women, whereas alpha-carotene was beneficial in postmenopausal women.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 4
  • Risk estimates (RE) = 5
    • (-) = 2
    • N = 3
  • Risk estimates by Tomato or Lycopene category
    • √PT P. Tom = 1 (-)
    • √Lyc Lyco = 1 (-), 3 (N)

Pancreatic Cancer- main findings

  • Data are limited.
    • 1 Case-control study reported.
    • Number of cases (n= 201-500)
  • Risk estimate: 2 (-)
  • Risk estimates by Tomato or Lycopene category
    • √GT G. Tom = 1 (-)
    • √Lyc Lyco = 1 (-)

 

Prostate Cancer- main findings

  • Data support a protective relationship between dietary lycopene intake and prostate cancer risk.
  • Tomatoes (as a general category) or processed tomatoes (specifically) are main sources of dietary lycopene and support a protective effect of tomato/lycopene-rich foods on prostate cancer.

Summary of studies and outcomes

  • Number of studies = 10
  • Risk estimates (RE) = 14
    • (-) = 9
    • N = 5
  • Risk estimates by Tomato or Lycopene category
    • √GT G. Tom = 3 (-)
    • √PT P. Tom = 1 (-)
    • √Lyc Lyco = 5 (-), 5 (N)

Renal Cell Cancer- main findings

  • 2 studies reported
    • 1 CC study (n=767 cases, CC 1:2)
      • RE: N
    • 1 PC (from pooled PC) study (n= 1478 cases, pooled cohort= 77495)
      • RE: N

Uterine Cancer- main findings

  • 1 study reported
    • 1 PC study (n=6302 cases, cohort 82,512, Nurses’ Health Study II)
      • RE: N

Mortality- main findings

  • Total Mortality (EPIC-Spain) [2007, 2008 publications – same data, different Journals]
    • PC study (n=562 deaths of ~ 41,000)
      • RE: (-)