Lycopene and Prostate Cancer: A Recent Review
Dec 8, 2011
Dozens of studies have explored the possible role of lycopene in lowering the risk of prostate cancer as well as whether lycopene can have an effect on prostate symptoms and death related to prostate cancer. Now a team of researchers from Monash University in Australia have scoured the literature for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that addressed the use of lycopene in the prevention of prostate cancer, and they have reported their findings in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
From a pool of 64 RCTs, the reviewers selected only three that met their criteria. The three studies involved a total of 154 participants, and only one study provided figures on the incidence of prostate cancer: 10% in men who took lycopene compared with 30% in those in a control group. According to the reviewers, two of the three studies had a high risk of bias, and none of the studies provided “robust evidence” of the effect of lycopene on prostate cancer incidence, prostate symptoms, levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), or side effects.
Read the full article here.
