www.checkbiotech.org www.raupp.info

Plant foods are a good source of flavonoids, important compounds due to
their antioxidant properties. As antioxidants, flavonoids may protect
against certain diseases such as cancer by inhibiting oxidative and
free-radical damage to lipids and nucleic acids, October 2006.

These plant-derived substances also play a role in the prevention of
other diseases associated with aging like cardiovascular disease. In a
recent article published in the Journal of Nutrition, scientists in
Germany and the Netherlands have succeeded in producing transgenic
tomato with enriched levels of flavonoids, and tested the health effects
of both genetically-modified and wild-type tomatoes on mice.

Researchers tracked changes in general health indicators such as
bodyweight and food intake, and in cardiovascular risk indicators that
include plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and cholesterol levels.

They found out that mice fed with wild-type tomato and those with
transgenic tomato have higher levels of ?good? cholesterol compared with
the baseline; however, mice supplied with flavonoid-enriched tomato have
significantly reduced levels of CRP ? a protein associated with high
risk of cardiovascular disease ? than those that received wild-type
tomato in the diet, indicating lower risk of cardiovascular disease for
the group fed with flavonoid-enriched tomato.

The results of the study suggest that genetic enhancement of fruits and
vegetables may in the future allow an optimization of the human diet and
help reduce diseases.

For the abstract of the research, ?Transgenic Flavonoid Tomato Intake
Reduces C-Reactive Protein in Human C-Reactive Protein Transgenic Mice
More Than Wild-Type Tomato?, readers can visit
[jn.nutrition.org]

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