07.01.04
Lycopene may be able to reduce the size and incidence of fibroid tumors based on an animal study presented at the annual Experimental Biology meeting. Fibroid tumors, also known as leiomyomas or myomas, are benign tumors of the uterus. Researchers from Firat University in Turkey, the University of Maryland and the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit supplemented the basic diet of Japanese quails with either 100 mg or 200 mg lycopene per kilogram of food. After 10 months, the supplemented quails had fewer leiomyomas compared to a control group fed only the basic diet (10% vs. 20%). In addition, the average diameter of the tumors was smaller in the supplemented groups. The size of the tumors in the group supplemented with 200 mg lycopene was also smaller than those in the group supplemented with 100 mg, indicating dose response effect of lycopene on the size of the tumors.