Przeciwutleniające właściwości pomidora (Lycopersicum esculentum L.)

*Anna Wiktorowska-Owczarek

Summary
A tomato is one of the most widely consumed vegetable around the world. It is consumed fresh or as tomato-based products such as ketchup, soup, sauce. Tomato is a source of “trio” antioxidants including vitamin C, E, flavonoids and essentially lycopene. It is carotenoid containing 11 conjugated double bonds and it is one of the most potent antioxidants with a singlet-oxygen-quenching ability twice as high as that of β-carotene and ten times higher than that of α-tocopherol. Lycopene can regenerate the other elements of an exogenous, antioxidant system such as carotenoids (β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin) and tocopherol. In the next step there is vitamin C which regenerates lipophilic antioxidants. Tomato and its contents can be used as a natural antioxidant pill which eliminates reactive oxygen species (ROS), reduces the oxidative damage to lipid, proteins and DNA. This can lead to reduction of risk of cancer development, cardiovascular diseases and age related diseases. Antioxidant effect of lycopene is also based on induction the phase II enzymes which play detoxifying and antioxidant role. The stimulation of phase II enzymes is responsible for chemopreventive effects of lycopene. Likewise, it modulates growth factors such as IGF-1. These and other activities of lycopene may inhibit cell proliferation and stimulate apoptosis cells by preventing the cancer development.

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