Study finds lycopene helps preserve skin smoothness

A new study has found that lycopene can have a positive effect on skin smoothness.

The antioxidant, most commonly found in tomatoes and used by nutricosmetic manufacturers in skin health supplements and drinks, was found to provide protection against free radicals, helping to protect skin.

The study, conducted by the Department of Dermatology at the Charite-University in Berlin, focused on lycopene concentration in the furrowed and wrinkled foreheads of 20 subjects aged between 40 and 50, with results demonstrating that high levels of the antioxidant in the skin could be correlated to lower levels of skin roughness.

“The researchers stated that ‘lycopene can be assumed to represent an efficient protection system against the negative action of the free radicals in the skin,’ and this is highly encouraging because it provides additional support for tomato lycopene as a skin protecting and beautifying ingredient for the fast growing nutriceuticals market,” commented Zohar Nir, vp new product development and scientific affairs, LycoRed Ltd, which manufactures lycopene under the brand name Lyc-O-Mato.