Lycopene, the quick, nutrition science, bla-bla-bla……
Lycopene is what is called a "carotenoid", that is, a pigment that gives many foods such as tomato their bright colors. It is sometimes called an antioxidant, but in essence, that only means the nutrient has "antioxidant properties", as far as attacking so called "free radicals" in the body.
Carotenoids are broken down by the body, often during the process of absorption into the bloodstream from the small intestine. They make their way to specific tissues and organs where they have been shown to protect against the type of oxygen damage that can harm your DNA.
Of the many health benefits of this process, much attention is now being focused on Lycopene as a Prostate Cancer Preventing nutrient, as well as supporting overall prostate health in men.
I don't advise waiting around for the American Cancer Society…..
…mainly because I trust my instincts and research, and secondly it seems like there is a blatant or not so blatant desire to confuse people about the benefits of natural cures, so that the trillion dollar health industry machine can keep rolling.
But I'm not here to get into conspiracy theories, I'm employed by "Mother Nature" and just spreading info on what seems to be an important nutrient lacking in the Western diet, that seems to be of great benefit for Prostate Health.
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I'm a "Scientist" who hates Scientific Studies
…because they are so confusing and laced with "vested interests" of the researchers. It seems to me, The American Cancer Society, and others always seem to do these studies on Lycopene and Prostate Cancer, and they always seem to come up "inconclusive"
For example, many of their studies come up as "inconclusive" because the tests are on men who already have prostate cancer. This doesn't make sense to me because certain stages of cancer are not reversible, just like a deadly gunshot wound is not reversible. Better to avoid the gunshot as opposed to treating it after the fact…….
The "Big Boys" of Lycopene
Gac (a.k.a., Fak Khaao)
Tomato
Rosehip herb,
Pitanga
(although I have not found Pitanga available in the USA)
For the other lesser players, i.e. watermelon, papaya, grapefruit, and so on, it wouldn't hurt for daily smoothie drinkers to consistently consume these fruits by dicing them up, throwing in the freezer, and adding them to daily smoothies (health and great taste all in one!!!)
More on Gac in a second, what's up with Tomato?
The tomato has been known for a while as the "Lycopene Champion" in the West. Most scientific study and testing pertaining to Lycopene is based upon the nutrient in the tomato.
Much evidence is starting to "trickle" out of science that eating large amounts tomatoes helps reduce the risk of prostate cancer (although it obviously must be combined with other nutrients, and healthy lifestyle choices).
How much Tomato would one need?
…is the question I'm sure someone is going to write to me and ask. My research shows that recommended amounts vary. It seems you need tomato every day. Also it is shown that cooked tomato (as in pasta sauce) activates more of the Lycopene nutrient than raw tomato.
However, I can't see myself eating enough pasta sauce in a given week to take advantage of Lycopene. That's why Gac powder in my smoothies, which has 70 times more Lycopene than tomato , is a more practical approach for me, since I drink smoothies daily. I eat lot of tomato in my salads, but just cause I enjoy it.
Rosehip, the Ultimate Lycopene Herb
I personally have not got into Rosehip, but for people wrapped up into their herbs and/or trying to actively influence prostate health, one might want look into rosehip for daily intake. Consistency is key!!!
The good thing is that it can be consumed in a variety of ways, in tea, via extracts, or my favorite way to consume any great nutrient, in powdered form in my daily smoothies, the rosehip powder can easily be found on Amazon
Gac, the King of the Lycopene Hill
Gac is "second to none" in Lycopene!!! The weird looking plant is native to Southeast Asia, but most importantly is available in the USA now, in powdered form for smoothie lovers, and can be had on Amazon , I have recently been ordering Gac straight from the Royal Tropics Website).
The Gac (a.k.a., Fak Khaao) plant has many amazing properties. I have been using the dried powder in my smoothies for two years now. It resolved the problem of how to get enough Lycopene into my daily regiment, I just add it to my smoothies.
I wrote a full article on Gac [as relates to prostate health], that article can be found here.
More Lycopene Power
(based upon testing on humans or animals)
Antioxidant properties
fights Atherosclerosis (clogged arteries)
fights high cholesterol
fights breast cancer
fights cancer in general
cervical cancer prevention
Coronary Artery disease Prevention
Eye disorders (such as age-related macular degeneration, cataracts)
Gastrointestinal tract and colorectal cancer prevention
fights gingivitis
fights high blood pressure
helps address male infertility
kidney health
lung cancer prevention
ovarian cancer prevention
prostate cancer prevention (the main emphasis of this article)
immune system stimulation
helps with lung function after exercise
Lycopene and Green Tea, Nature's Dynamic Duo
….because several studies exist that show that when lycopene is consumed cosistently (as in daily) with green tea, the anti-prostate cancer effects are increased dramatically
I wrote a full article on that subject that article can be found here
I'm not a fan of supplements
…which is different from, as and examle, a whole food dried, in capsule form. A supplement is nutrient extracted from food or man made version of a nutrient.
But studies show, especially with the tomato, Lycopene benefits of the tomato work in conjunction with the entire vegetable, as opposed to a separate isolated nutrient extraced from a plant. Makes sense, I always say, go with whole food sources of nutrients before supplements, whenever possible.
The Gac powder I use is a good example of although it is a dried powder and can be taken in capsule form, IT IS NOT A SUPPLEMENT, but the full fruit dried into a powder. I doubt if I will ever take a Lycopene Supplement Pill, especially since I can purchase Gac powder in the USA
Lycopene helped me "Heal Thyself"
…after I got what I self diagnosed as an "inflamed prostate" caused [I think] by and abnormal reaction the male testosterone booster Tongkat.
To heal myself, I took in a ton of "Prostate Friendly" Superfoods, one of which was the Heavyweight Champion Gac, and I was totally healed in a few weeks, and even got propelled to a new level of vitality, with morning erections and so forth.
It wasn't just the Lycopene I'm sure, but I'm convinced Lycopene was one of the nutrients that saved me from a prostate health catastrophe.
Read more on how I healed my [assumed] prostate ailment here
Is Prostate Health worth 30 minutes of homework?
Like I always ask people on these issues, is it worth 30 minutes of your life to look into these issues? The health care industry [arguably] has failed us, its up to us to take care of ourselves.
I'm quite sure this knowlege saved me at least once from catostrophic prostate issues, I'm glad I took my 30 minutes a while back and look into what was VERY relevant to my health and wellness.
~stay healthy~
sources
how Lycopene protect against prostate cancer
Tomatoes found to lessen prostate cancer risk
….many more articles on the web invest 30 minute and do some homework!!!!
click here or photo below for all my articles in "Men's Health"
3 Responses
Unfortunately, Royal Tropics has no GAC POWDER for sale, and neither does Amazon. I was really hoping to find some.
Hi “Inspired by Ebony Love”
There might be a couple of more options with the GAC powder.
Gac is seasonal and very rare in the USA and often times they are all out of stock at once.
I’ve been getting Gac from Royal Tropics for the past 2 years even though it has been mostly out of stock. I have been been emailing Peter Allen at Royal Tropics and requesting a couple of containers of GAC and he has sent me a couple 2 or 3 times I think and I paid him via PayPal. I guess he has his own private stash even though he doesn’t have enough to sell it on his site.
That being said, you can try contacting Peter B. Allen at pallen@royaltropics.com and asking him can you purchase some GAC. You can probably tell him Doug Wallace referred you.
There is another company called Siam Natural. I used to get my Gac from them before I was purchasing from Royal Tropics. They have capsules and powder. they were out of stock for a long while as well, but it seem from their site they “might” be in stock. From my experiences with that company, they are a pretty decent company, though they ship from Thailand and the product may have taken a week or two to get here. Here is their link”
http://www.paradisemoon.com/herbal/mogac/Fak_Khaao_Momordica_Gac_Supplement.htm
Let me also state that I’ve never had prostate cancer, just a prostate “incident” I’ve written about all over the site. It happened when I was doing something stupid, taking male testosterone herbs an got what I “self-diagnosed” as an “inflamed prostate”. My urinary flow was cutting off, it was pretty scary. The nutrients by themselves totally healed me, I never had to go to the hospital because I just started feeling better and better over a week or two. But that was actually the only time in my live I’ve ever had an ailment beside some bad colds as a kid.
Only making that note because I can only say so much to people who have a full blown disease, the are so many unknowns to these diseases, and I’ve always been skeptical and cynical about what doctors are telling us, but we won’t get into that. Also, I have to remind people I’m not licensed or certified in anything, just a very good self-taught nutritionist, from which I write on this site and at least try to present info which might be of help to people. Only personal opinion here, but I think these diseases are often dietary (like eating toxic Canola Oil and Vegetable Oils), environmental (like lead in water or cell phone up to your head too much), and the hardest thing is to figure out what environmental factors are causing the issue, and we have to go after the root cause(s) and take it out of our life, if we could ever find out what it is, and then let the nutrients repair the body. As I try to express all over the website, European diet and medicine is not designed by nature for African Biochemistry, that’s one of perhaps several root causes of cancer in Black people. This is all just one man’s opinion however.
Nonetheless, overall, I think Gac is a the most important nutrient for general prostate health (and also for breast cancer prevention), though when health writers make comments like that we are often talking from a “preventative” perspective, but I do think these nutrients have great power and value. My ailment proved it to me. Gac is one of the most important nutrients for prostate health, along with Black Sesame Seeds and Culinary Argan Oil, and I think the Vitamin D in Salmon is very important as well, though all the others I mention have value, speaking in general terms.
Another that I’ve run across that I think is very important is Incan Golden Berries or simply Golden Berries, I’ve run across them a lot in my recent research, but the research is so hard because they are censoring information on our health thanks to Money Driven Medicine. Once again I can’t speak for prostate cancer because I’ve never had any disease, just “the incident” I mentioned above, and I don’t want to spread any false promises or “fake news”, but I’ve run across it being said that Golden Berries actually can cure the prostate disease and is supposedly the only plant in nature in which that claim has ever been made. I have no idea if that’s true, but I ran across that info in a couple of places, knowing if it is true, the powers that be are working hard to keep it from us and stop us from hearing about it, so I’m always making mental notes when I hear something, but being careful how to present the info. I’m wary about making that statement because who knows if it is true and there are so many other factors with cancer, but I think it’s well worth looking into if you are going the natural route, easy to get on the web, I’d advise any man to start eating a ton of those things like I do, for me it’s a “just in case”, and real easy dietary addition to make.
Here is the Inca Golden Berry article if you have not run across it….
https://www.gaiahealthblog.com/2017/09/10/the-new-superfood-kids-on-the-block-part-12-incan-golden-berry/
I hope all of this is some help, and I hope you understand the perspective I’m coming from. It may or may not have value, depending on one’s situation.
Doug Wallace at GAIA Health Blog
Hi “Inspired by Ebony Love”
I also forgot to mention Red Maca is one of the most important players in general prostate health, it has been shown to shrink the size of prostate in Laboratory Rats. Since Natural cures are not researched as much with humans in the USA, additional human research is sketchy, but I think this is a great nutrient. Once again, I’m not saying it cures prostate cancer, just a very good nutrient for overall health. Make sure you get the red maca, because there is a black and yellow maca, all are good for you but red maca supposedly has chemical properties which are beneficial to prostate heath.
Good Luck…
Doug at GAIA Health Blog