A European group of researchers have successfully expressed genes from the Snapdragon flower in tomatoes, resulting in deep-purple colored tomatoes with unprecedentedly high anthocyanin content at concentrations comparable to the anthocyanin levels found in blackberries and blueberries. The expression of the two transgenes increased the hydrophilic antioxidant capacity of tomato fruit threefold and a pilot animal study demonstrated that cancer-susceptible Trp53-/- mice fed a diet supplemented with the high-anthocyanin tomatoes showed a significant extension of life span.
"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," says Professor Cathie Martin. Next step: testing it on humans. Read the press release here.
Is this exciting news? Yes, but it also raises a lot of questions. True we have been breeding plants since the beginnings of agriculture. And technology is such that we now have the power to alter plants on the genetic level, even introduce foreign genes into an organism. This has implications I've already briefly discussed concerning nutraceuticals. But in some ways, if eating a tomato is going to reduce the likelihood of cancer in the same way taking a bunch of pills would, then I vote for eating a nice salad. Nevertheless, the whole thing really raises some alarms.
Speaking of alarms, I've been reading the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and apparently there is so much wrong with the industrial food system of America that purple tomatoes might be the least of our worries. I highly recommend this book if you want to get educated (and horrified) about what we eat and how, as a nation, we are suffering from an eating disorder.
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