Scientists Develop Disease-Fighting Tomato

Red, yellow and green are the most common colors you’ll see when shopping for tomatoes. But researchers at the John Innes Center in Great Britain have developed a breed of purple tomatoes using genes from the snapdragon flower. The good news is—these odd-colored tomatoes are packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants called anthocyanins!

These antioxidants are found in fruits like blackberries and currants, and give them their dark color. Anthocyanins not only show positive outcomes for fighting cancer, they have also been shown to lower your risk of heart and brain disease!

But many folks don’t eat enough of these healthy foods. This new genetically engineered tomato contains even more potent levels of the antioxidant.

The findings show the cancer-prone mice that were fed the new breed of tomatoes lived significantly longer than those mice on a regular diet.

The researchers said human trials are in the distant future, and “it’s really too early to say whether anthocyanins obtained through diet could help to reduce the risk of cancer,” said Lara Bennett, M.D., in a Reuters health report. However, “it’s exciting to see new techniques that could potentially make healthy foods even better for us.”