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Purple tomatoes designed to be new superfood
Research has shown that darker, deeper coloured fruits are generally more nutritious than lighter ones. With this in mind, scientists have created super cancer fighting purple tomatoes.
The purple tomatoes are rich in an antioxidant pigment called anthocyanin, which studies have shown to have anti-cancer properties. The research is being carried out by the John Innes Centre, Norwich. The scientists added genes from the snapdragon flower, to tomatoes, which greatly increases the anthocyanin content.
The results of the research featured in the journal Nature Biotechnology, and reported that mice which ate the tomatoes had decreased mortality rates, causing a “significantly longer” lifespan. Anthocyanins, found in particularly high levels in berries such as blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry, have been shown to help significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells. Dark berries are amongst the “superfoods”. Anthocyanins can also help to prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease and age-related degenerative diseases. That is not all though, as anthocyanins also appear to have anti-inflammatory properties and help boost eyesight, and may even help reduce obesity and diabetes.
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Currently research is focusing on finding new ways to increase the amount of health-promoting properties in more commonly eaten fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes already contain high levels of beneficial antioxidant compounds, such as lycopene and flavonoids, and feature in a wide variety of meals, so producing an ultimate healthy tomato seemed a sensible option. The research team is now looking for human volunteers to test the tomatoes further.
“Most people do not eat five portions of fruits and vegetables a day, but they can get more benefit from those they do eat if common fruit and veg can be developed that are higher in bioactive compounds. This is one of the first examples of metabolic engineering that offers the potential to promote health through diet by reducing the impact of chronic disease. And certainly the first example of a GMO (genetically modified organism) with a trait that really offers a potential benefit for all consumers.” Professor Cathie Martin, John Innes Centre.
Comments from the medical and scientific community;
“It is exciting to see new techniques that could potentially make healthy foods even better for us. But it is too early to say whether anthocyanins obtained through diet could help to reduce the risk of cancer. We do know that eating a healthy, balanced diet that is rich in fibre, fruit and vegetables – and low in red and processed meat – is an important way to reduce your cancer risk.” Dr Lara Bennett, of the charity Cancer Research UK.
“The technology offers great scope for altering colours of fruits and vegetables, and their content of potentially health-protective compounds. However, he said it would be wrong to assume the effects seen in mice would necessarily occur in humans.” Dr Paul Kroon, of the Food Research Institute in Norwich.
“Fruit and veg with higher levels of health-promoting compounds should not been seen as a replacement for eating a healthy balanced diet. There is no magic bullet to cure all.” Anna Denny, a nutrition scientist for the British Nutrition Foundation
While this is exciting news, it is not the first time that we have heard reports of new superfoods being created in the laboratory. For this to benefit society, people first need to eat more fruit and vegetables. It
can only benefit people that are already eating a healthy diet, and those most at risk, who rarely consume their 5-a-day, will not benefit at all from something that they never eat!
Reference: ‘Enrichment of tomato fruit with health-promoting anthocyanins by expression of select transcription factors’, Nature Biotechnology doi: 10.1038/nbt.1506 – available to purchase at: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.1506.html
Visit the John Innes Centre website for more on their research.
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2 Responses to “Purple tomatoes designed to be new superfood”
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Hi,
It would be useful if you had a link for this research.
I’m glad that you included the guarded comments from the scientific community with this post. You can’t extrapolate from lab results on mice into effects on humans, and the only way of showing the effectiveness of this intervention would be a RCT.
The only really well established nutritional finding is that people should eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and veg. There isn’t much money in this and it gets lost in talk of various miracle constituents, which, bearing in mind that people still aren’t living much beyond four score and ten, are hot air.
Added a reference for the research. I agree with your point. I cannot help thinking that this work is really mostly academic. If hybrid tomatoes were sold (they may not even pass EU strict laws) then they will only benefit people that eat healthily. Time and money would probably be better spent finding ways to make wheat and potatoes healthier instead, as these are the staple foods of people with unhealthy eating habits, and they need most help.