Lycopene is a powerfull antioxidant. It makes tomatoes red. It is soluble in oils and insoluble in water. Lycopene is easily absorbed by the organism and is naturally present in human plasma and tissues in higher concentrations than the other carotenoids.
Lycopene is a natural carotenoid with strong antioxidant found in plants in nature. Lycopene molecules have high activity and bioavailability in a fat-soluble environment.
1. Health products and sports supplements
According to GNPD data, there are 177 new supplement products containing lycopene in the world. According to the State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), there are 31 kinds of lycopene health products that have obtained the word "National Food Health", of which 2 are imported health products, and the others are domestic health products.
2. Cosmetics
According to GNPD data, there are 81 new skin care products and 51 color cosmetics containing lycopene. Typical products such as lycopene moisturizing lotion, etc., have whitening and anti-aging effects.
3. Food and beverage
In the food and beverage sector, lycopene has received "novel food" approval in Europe and GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status in the United States, with non-alcoholic beverages being the most popular.
4. Application in meat products
Meat products undergo changes in color, texture and flavor due to oxidation during processing and storage. At the same time, with the increase of storage time, the reproduction of microorganisms, especially botulinum toxin, will also cause the meat to spoil and deteriorate. Therefore, the chemical preservative nitrite is often used to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, prevent meat spoilage and improve the flavor and quality of meat. color.
5. Application in edible oil
Oxidative deterioration is a common adverse reaction of edible oil during storage, which not only leads to changes in the quality of edible oil or even loss of edible value, but more seriously, long-term intake of deteriorated edible oil will lead to various diseases.
In order to delay the deterioration of edible oils, certain antioxidants are often added during processing. However, with the improvement of people's awareness of food safety, the safety issues of various antioxidants are constantly being raised. Therefore, finding safe natural antioxidants has become a focus of food additives. Lycopene has superior physiological functions and strong antioxidant properties, which can efficiently quench singlet oxygen and scavenge free radicals, and inhibit lipid peroxidation. Therefore, adding it to edible oil can alleviate oil deterioration.
6. Other applications
As a potential carotenoid compound, lycopene cannot be synthesized in the human body by itself and must be obtained through dietary supplements. After discovering the physiological function of lycopene, Ly-cored Natural Products Industries Ltd. in Israel took the lead. Development of lycopene products.
| Test Item | Specification | Test Result | Test Method |
| Appearance | Dark-red viscous powder | Dark-red viscous powder | Visual |
| Lycopene Content | ≥90% | 92.54 | -- |
| N-hexane | ≤50ppm | 43.9 | Gas chromatograph |
| Loss on Drying | ≤1.0% | 0.01 | 2g/60℃/4hrs/≤-0.08Mpa |
| Residue on Ignition | ≤1.0% | 0.3 | 3g/550℃/4hrs |
| Heavy Metals | ≤10mg/kg | ＜10 | ICP-MS |
| Lead | ≤1mg/kg | ＜1 | ICP-MS |
| Arsenic | ≤1mg/kg | ＜1 | ICP-MS |
| Mercury | ≤0.1mg/kg | ＜0.1 | ICP-MS |
| Cadmium | ≤1mg/kg | <1 | ICP-MS |
| Total Plate Count | ≤1000cfu/g | 20 | Plate counting |
| Total Yeast&Mold | ≤100cfu/g | 15 | Plate counting |
| Coli Group | ≤3.0MPN/g | ＜3.0 | Counting MPN method |
With the focus on dietary health, lycopene has become more and more popular. In addition, it has also attracted much attention in terms of feed additives.