These are alarming findings, given that these vitamins give antioxidant protection to lipids, and oxidized lipids are thought to be a mechanism of heart disease. Although Probucol is, itself, an antioxidant, it showed no effect on heart disease in a trial of Swedish patients. High-fiber diets can also block the absorption of the carotenes if the carotenes are taken at the same time as the fiber. Other parts of the body besides the prostate that accumulate lycopene are the adrenal glands, liver, colon and testes. Aging reduces levels of lycopene in the blood.
Several studies show a connection between lycopene and cancer prevention.
Lycopene appears to be protective against cancer of the digestive tract. More direct evidence has been provided by researchers in Japan who did a study on colon cancer in rats. It's important to note, however, that pure lycopene did not. The authors of the study speculate that lycopene's action depends on other factors present in the juice that is missing in pure lycopene. Recent thinking in carotene research is that the carotenes are both interdependent and dependent on other vitamins and minerals, and this must be taken into account when studying them.