A new variety of purple tomato as a rich source of bioactive carotenoids and its potential health benefits
Luciano H. Campestrini,
Priscilla S. Melo,
Lázaro E.P. Peres,
Ricardo C. Calhelha,
Isabel C.F.R. Ferreira,
Severino M. Alencar
Affiliations
Luciano H. Campestrini
Departamento de Agroindústria, Alimentos e Nutrição, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Universidade de São Paulo, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
Priscilla S. Melo
Departamento de Agroindústria, Alimentos e Nutrição, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Universidade de São Paulo, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
Lázaro E.P. Peres
Laboratório de Controle Hormonal do Desenvolvimento Vegetal, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz, Universidade de São Paulo, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
Ricardo C. Calhelha
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Escola Superior Agrária (ESA), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus Santa Apolónia, 1172, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
Isabel C.F.R. Ferreira
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Escola Superior Agrária (ESA), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus Santa Apolónia, 1172, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
Severino M. Alencar
Departamento de Agroindústria, Alimentos e Nutrição, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Universidade de São Paulo, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil; Corresponding author.
Carotenoid-rich fractions (CRF) from pulp and peel of a new variety of purple tomato were investigated in comparison to a Red Cherry variety regarding carotenoids characterization, antioxidant capacity, and inhibition of proliferation of four tumor cell lines. CRF from peel of Purple tomato contains lutein, lycopene, and β-carotene up to 6, 1.5, and 2.5 times more than that of Red Cherry and it exhibited the highest antioxidant activity at 400 μg/mL, reaching 82% and 97% in DPPH and ABTS•+ assays, respectively. Besides that, the Purple peel showed the highest scavenging lipoperoxides capacity as well as displayed the highest ferric reducing antioxidant power compared to the other CRF. In turn, the Red Cherry pulp CRF showed the highest antiproliferative activity against four tumor cell lines (MCF-7, NCI-H460, HeLa, and HepG2) at non-toxic concentrations. High concentration of neurosporene, and lycopene in Red Cherry pulp CRF show to be related to the good antiproliferative activity found on it. Therefore, this new variety of nutrient-rich purple tomato could be explored as well as the commercial variety Red Cherry, since both are good sources of dietary carotenoids with health-promoting properties.
