Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that may help protect cells from damage.

Lycopene is what gives most fruit and vegetable their red colouring and tomatoes have one of the highest concentrations of lycopene.

The most common reason people may take lycopene is to support preventing heart disease, "hardening of the arteries" (atherosclerosis); and disease of the prostate, breast, lung, bladder, ovaries, colon, and pancreas.  Lycopene is also sometimes used to support the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, which is a major cause of uterine cancer.