Here is a footnote to the previous quote:
Lycopene is the latest single nutrient to be fawned over by the nutritional establishment since a recent study appeared showing that men who consumed large amounts of tomato-based products suffered much lower rates of prostate cancer than those who didn’t. There is little doubt that the shelves of health food stores everywhere will soon be laden with multiple brands of lycopene supplements–but eat tomatoes! Protein Power LifePlan, pg. 120
Have you checked out any health food stores lately? They’re crawling with lycopene supplements. Remember, thought, that all the studies showing the benefit of lycopene used tomatoes that had been cooked in oil. I don’t know if heating is an absolute requirement to make the lycopene more absorbable, but I do know that the oil is. So when you eat a tomato salad, drizzle it with a little olive oil so that you can get the full benefit of not only the lycopene, but all the other carotenoides and flavonoids the tomatoes have to offer. Plus you get all the good fat-soluble antioxidants in the olive oil as well.