The red pigment that makes tomatoes red. It's one of the most abundant carotenoids circulating in human plasma — and the one researchers keep linking to skin's natural sun resilience.
Why it's in Glowbite
* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Mechanism
Lycopene is a non-provitamin A carotenoid with an extended conjugated double-bond chain, making it a potent singlet-oxygen quencher. Because it accumulates in the skin over weeks, chronic dietary intake is associated with a higher minimal erythemal dose (MED) — essentially, skin that tolerates more UV stress before it reddens.*
Why this dose
Clinical trials reporting skin endpoints have used 8–16 mg/day over 10–12 weeks. Glowbite uses 50 mg so that even imperfect absorption yields a meaningful circulating dose. The upper end of lycopene intake in the literature exceeds 75 mg/day without reported safety issues; most supplement watch-lists set no UL.
Representative studies
10-week intake of tomato paste providing ~16 mg lycopene/day was associated with a 40% reduction in UV-induced erythema versus control.
12-week randomized trial using a tomato-derived lycopene supplement showed protection against UVA/UVB-induced erythema and matrix metalloproteinase expression in skin biopsies.
Interactions & cautions
Lycopene is considered well tolerated. May minimally interact with some statins; speak to your prescriber if applicable.
See the full safety page for contraindications across all seven actives.
Pairs with
Lycopene does part of the job. These are the other actives in Glowbite that work on adjacent pathways.
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