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Fruits and vegetables that are high in lycopene include [[gac]], tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit, pink [[guava]], [[papaya]], [[Sea Buckthorn]], wolfberry (goji, a berry relative of tomato), and [[Rose Hip]]. Although [[gac]] (''Momordica cochinchinensis'' Spreng) has the highest content of lycopene of any known fruit or vegetable, up to 70 times more than tomatoes for example, due to gac's rarity outside its native region of southeast [[Asia]], tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, juices, and ketchup account for more than 85% of the dietary intake of lycopene for most people. The lycopene content of tomatoes depends on species and increases as the fruit ripens.
Unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content such as [[vitamin C]] is diminished upon cooking, of tomatoes increases the concentration of lycopene. Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. For this reason, tomato sauce is a preferable source as opposed to raw tomatoes.
Cooking and crushing tomatoes (as in the canning process) and serving in oil-rich dishes (such as spaghetti sauce or pizza) greatly increases assimilation from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. Lycopene is fat-soluble, so the oil is said to help absorption. [[Gac]] is a notable exception, containing high concentrations of lycopene and also saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.
Lycopene may be obtained from vegetables and fruits such as the tomato, but another source of lycopene is the fungus ''[[Blakeslea trispora]]''. [[Gac]] is a promising commercial source of lycopene for the purposes of extraction and purification.
The cis-lycopene from some varieties of tomato is more bioavailable.
Note that there are some resources which make the mistaken assumption that all red fruits contain lycopene, when in fact many are [[pigment]]ed pigmented by other chemicals. An example is the blood orange, which is colored by [[anthocyanin]], while other red colored oranges, such as the [[Cara cara navel]], and other citrus fruit, such as pink grapefruit, are colored by lycopene. In addition, some foods which do not appear red also contain lycopene, e.g., asparagus, which contains about 30μg of lycopene per 100 gram servingand dried parsley and basil, which contain about 3.5-7 μg of lycopene per gram
In addition, some foods which do not appear red also contain lycopene, e.g., [[asparagus]], which contains about 30μg of lycopene per 100 gram servingand dried parsley and basil, which contain about 3.5-7 μg of lycopene per gram
==The benefits of Lycopene are==
A collaborative study conducted by Newcastle University, the University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, revealed that consumption of foods containing Lycopene reduces the reddening of the skin after long hours of exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. Tomatoes are the richest known sources of lycopene and heat-treated tomato paste has more lycopene content than fresh raw tomatoes. A small serving of tomato paste contains approximately 16 milligrams of lycopene. Skin reddening brought about by extended exposure to UV rays is caused by the damage to mitochondrial DNA. Sufficient servings of tomato paste on a daily basis protect mitochondrial DNA from damage, thereby reducing skin reddening and keeping the skin healthy. This study was published in the British Journal of Dermatology.