Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, supported by scientists from Plant Research International of Wageningen UR in the Netherlands, have developed extra healthy purple tomatoes. The findings have been published in Nature Biotechnology. By means of genetic modification, the scientists added two genes from the antirrhinum to the tomatoes that are required to make anthocyanins. As a result, the tomatoes contain these purple-coloured antioxidants that are also present in fruits such as blackberry. These anthocyanins complement the other healthy chemical substances already found in tomatoes, such as lycopene. The research shows that the new purple tomatoes provide extra protection against the development of cancer.
Most people eat too few vegetables and fruit to make the most of their healthy properties. These new purple tomatoes therefore provide something extra by containing both lycopene and anthocyanins. Both are known as antioxidants that have a positive influence on human health.
Although tomatoes already contained chemicals that protect the human body from disease, including lycopene, to date they didn’t contain anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are reddish-purple pigments found in fruits such as strawberries, blackberries and cranberries. They are proposed to protect us from various diseases including cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. There are also indications that the chemicals have an anti-inflammatory effect.
The scientists developed tomatoes which have the genes necessary for producing anthocyanins in fruit. The new tomatoes contain anthocyanins both in their skin and flesh and as a result are easily recognised by their deep purple colour. Research has shown that tomatoes with twice the number of antioxidants can protect the health of certain mice that are susceptible to cancer.
The research was financed by the EU, the BBSRC and Plant Research International
Publication: ‘Enrichment of tomato fruit with health-promoting anthocyanins by expression of select transcription factors’, Nature Biotechnology.
