Can Tomatoes Fight Cancer and Can You Grow Them? -by Peninggi Badan5462559
Scientists have now developed a purple tomato that can help fight cancer but as a gardener I want to know if I can grow one of these new super tomatoes. Well, at this stage it does not appear to be something gardeners can do and this is because the tomato has been genetically modified in the UK.
What the scientists have done is to take a gene from a flower and insert this into a tomato to create what people are claiming to be a super tomato. They have inserted something called an anthocyanin which is something to do with the pigments in the snapdragon flower but they are also found in things like blackberries and cranberries. So how has it been tested? It has so far been tested on mice which have been bred to be susceptible to cancer and when fed with this new super food it helped the mice to live longer. There are now plans to test it on men who are at risk of prostrate cancer. Back to my original question, can I grow it? Not at this stage as it is an experimental genetically modified crop and the other thing is that it has been developed in the UK. The UK appears to be anti GM and it is unlikely to be released for cultivation by the general public. Information has not been released, at least in the research I have seen, that shows whether the gene which has been inserted has been transferred to the seeds although I see no reason why it should not have been.
The other thing to think about is that anthocyanin is already found in tomatoes but not the fruit just the leaves. I was also interested to read that the scientists claim that one of the purple tomatoes contained as much anthocyanins as a spoonful of cranberries but they did not say how big, or maybe how small, was the spoonful of cranberries. All this suggests to me that at this stage if I want to grow cancer busting foods, perhaps I should grow cranberries. There are other foods as well which are claimed to help with cancer are things like avocados, chilli peppers and jalapenos, broccoli and flax seeds and as for fruit grapefruits, grapes and oranges are suggested as being good for you. Living where I live I could only grow a few of these so would need to stick to broccoli, chillies and cranberries so I will have to wait until the super tomato is released to gardeners. The scientists are from the John Innes Centre near to Norwich in England and this is a very well respected UK organization so let us wait a while and see what develops. Also please note that I am not a scientist, just a gardener so this is my opinion based on research I have seen and you need to make your own mind up based on your own research. To learn how you can grow your own tasty and healthy vegetables even in the smallest backyard, check out High Density Gardening.
