Dietary Tomato Paste Protects against Ultraviolet Light–Induced Erythema in Humans

Abstract

Carotenoids are efficient antioxidants capable of scavenging reactive oxygen species generated under conditions of photooxidative stress. It has been shown that supplementation with high doses of beta-carotene protects skin against UV-induced erythema. This study was designed to investigate whether intervention with a natural dietary source rich in lycopene protects against UV-induced erythema in humans. Tomato paste (40 g), providing approximately 16 mg/d of lycopene, was ingested with 10 g of olive oil over a period of 10 wk by 9 volunteers. Controls (n = 10) received olive oil only. Erythema was induced by illumination of dorsal skin (scapular region) with a solar simulator at the beginning of the study, after 4 wk and after 10 wk. Intensity of erythema was measured by chromatometry; the a-value was determined directly before and 24 h after irradiation. Serum carotenoid levels were measured by HPLC. At the beginning of the study, carotenoid levels did not differ between the two groups. Serum levels of lycopene increased in supplemented subjects; the other carotenoids did not change significantly, and no change in serum carotenoids was observed in the control group. At wk 10, dorsal erythema formation was 40% lower in the group that consumed tomato paste compared with controls (P = 0.02; Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test). No significant difference between groups was found at wk 4 of treatment. The data demonstrate that it is feasible to achieve protection against UV light-induced erythema by ingestion of a commonly consumed dietary source of lycopene.

Nutritional Protection Against Skin Damage From Sunlight

“…Erythema intensity was lower after treatment. This study (145) demonstrates that UV-induced erythema can be ameliorated by dietary intervention.…”

“…In one study (145), protection against UV-induced erythema was observed after dietary intervention, as opposed to supplementation with isolated compounds (see below). Tomato paste contains high amounts of the tomato-specific carotenoid lycopene and was selected as a natural dietary source providing carotenoids to protect against UV-induced erythema in humans (145) ( Table 2).…”

Determinants of skin sensitivity to solar irradiation

“…Concentrations of b-carotene and lycopene in the skin are approximately 216797 and 126790 ng/g wet tissue in nonsmokers (Peng et al, 1995). We could not confirm the strong positive influence of lycopene on erythema according to a nutritional supplementation study (Stahl et al, 2001). They reported a protection against UV light-induced erythema in humans after consumption of tomato paste (approximately 16 mg/day lycopene).…”

“…Although the efficacy of protection is not comparable to the protection factor of sunscreens, dietary intake of carotenoids could increase the basal protection of skin against erythema, suggested by others (Stahl et al, 2001). In our study, this basal protection was only attributable to subjects with high skin melanin content.…”

Skin Redox Balance Maintenance: The Need for an Nrf2-Activator Delivery System

“…Moreover, it was used to reduce skin toxicity secondary to chemoradiation in patients with breast cancer [110,[116][117][118]. However, skin photoprotective effects determined by erythema, were only observed following at least 10 weeks of oral supplementation of several carotene including lycopene [60,112,114,[119][120][121][122][123]. Vitamin C and vitamin E have provided photoprotection against UVB-induced damage including reduced sunburn reaction and thymine dimers in human skin [124,125].…”