Research review
Does lycopene help with weight loss? What the research does and doesn't show
One meta-analysis found carotenoid supplementation (lycopene pooled together with several other carotenoids) linked to body weight and BMI reductions; a separate, larger meta-analysis of lycopene and tomato products specifically found no significant effect on body weight or BMI.
No trial has tested lycopene by itself against weight loss as a primary outcome. One meta-analysis found carotenoid supplementation linked to lower body weight, but it pooled lycopene together with several other carotenoids; a separate, larger meta-analysis of lycopene and tomato products specifically found no significant effect on body weight or BMI.
What the evidence doesn't support
It doesn't support lycopene, taken on its own, as a weight-loss supplement. The one meta-analysis that found a body-weight benefit tested carotenoids as a group — lycopene alongside astaxanthin, cryptoxanthin, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene — without isolating lycopene's individual contribution, so the result can't be attributed to lycopene specifically. It also drew two published critical comments questioning its methods. The meta-analysis that did look at lycopene and tomato products specifically, testing body weight and BMI directly, found no significant change at all.
What the trials found
A 2021 meta-analysis pooled 7 randomized trials and 8 observational studies (28,944 people total) on carotenoid supplementation and excess body weight, with RCT doses from 1.2 to 60 mg/day over 20 days to 16 weeks. It reported that carotenoid supplementation was associated with lower body weight (about 2.3 kg), lower BMI and a smaller waist circumference. Because the analysis combined five different carotenoids rather than testing lycopene alone, it can't say how much, if any, of that result came from lycopene specifically — and the journal published two separate critical comments on the study after it came out.
A 2023 meta-analysis of 34 randomized trials testing lycopene and tomato products specifically — not carotenoids as a group — tracked body weight and BMI alongside blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and inflammation markers. It found no significant effect on body weight or BMI across the pooled trials.
Questions people ask
Does lycopene help with weight loss?
The one positive signal in the literature comes from a study that didn't isolate lycopene from other carotenoids, so it doesn't answer this question directly. The meta-analysis that tested lycopene and tomato products specifically found no significant effect on body weight. Nothing in the current evidence supports using lycopene as a weight-loss aid.
Does lycopene boost metabolism or burn fat?
No trial reviewed here tested lycopene against metabolic rate or fat burning directly. The carotenoid meta-analysis that found lower body weight didn't isolate lycopene from the other carotenoids tested, and the meta-analysis that did isolate lycopene and tomato products found no significant change in body weight or BMI. There's no evidence here for a metabolism or fat-burning effect specific to lycopene.
When to talk to a doctor
Anyone working on weight management, especially alongside a medical condition or medication, should build that plan with their doctor or a registered dietitian rather than a supplement label. Lycopene is not a treatment for excess weight, and the evidence above doesn't support using it that way.
Related reading: lycopene: what the research does and doesn't show, lycopene and cholesterol, reviewed, and what is lycopene.
Sources
- The Effects of Lycopene and Tomato Consumption on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adults: A Grade Assessment Systematic Review and Meta-analysis A meta-analysis of 34 randomized trials found lycopene and tomato products had no significant effect on blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, inflammation or body weight; the only significant change was in an oxidative-stress marker.
- The association between carotenoids and subjects with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis A meta-analysis of 15 studies found carotenoid supplementation associated with lower body weight, BMI and waist circumference, but it pooled lycopene together with several other carotenoids rather than testing lycopene alone, and the analysis drew published critical commentary — so it doesn't establish what lycopene by itself does for weight.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.