Pale pink tomatoes? A glimpse into the mystery of betalains

What would be our first thought when we see fruits and vegetables in the supermarket that don't match the expected hue? Manpower? Pigmentation? Unhealthy?

The general perception is that tomatoes arebinmei mostly red, but sometimes they can be orange or yellow or even purple. But up until now, you and I have probably never heard of a pink tomato. Scientists have discovered that changing several elements in the production process can change the color of the flesh, and with this new color, they also have amazing health benefits.

In a study from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, an unidentified gene was found in beet - identified as a highly resilient antioxidant pigment such as nutritional red violet and yellow pigment, commonly used in food dyes. With the discovery of this new gene, scientists have created a yeast that produces betalains, which are transplanted and regenerated into edible plants and (inedible) flowers, including potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, petunias and cigarettes.

These plants originally did not cause reddish-purple or yellow pigmentation, but through the generation of betalains, scientists showed that edible plants produced reddish-purple fruits and epidermis, petunia petals were light purple, and cigarette petals were yellow and orange-pink.

The purpose of this research, however, was not just to enhance the hue of ingredients, enrich the variety of products on the grocery shelf, or bring more variety in the florist. Instead, the modified hues made the edibles healthier: with the boost in betalains, the antioxidant content was also enhanced by about 60 percent compared to what it would have been.

The lead of this research project, AsaphAharoni, said in a statement, "Our findings, in the future, may be used to boost betalains in crops and enhance their nutritional content.

In addition, the researchers also found that betalains protect plants against gray mold, with the opportunity to reduce the billions of dollars in agricultural losses caused by gray mold each year. Cultivating betalains in plants has also ledspirulina concentrate to a staggering 90 percent increase in the amount of antibodies in plants against gray mold.

The human-made betalains made by scientists do not exist in nature, but that's actually a good thing. These new human-made dyes are even more durable than natural betalains. This has major implications for the food industry, as the pigment could be commonly used as an eco-food dye, such as strawberry yogurt.

Betaine is not a familiar substance, but is generally a food coloring extracted from the beet. However, they can be divided into two categories based on their color presentation: Betacyanin, which shows a purplish-red color, and Betaxanthin, which shows a yellow color, which explains why the plant can produce a pink surface through human propagation and regeneration. The small pink tomatoes are not only eye-catching in appearance, but spirulina powder bluealso bring higher nutritional content after scientific tests have confirmed it. It is believed that more elements of this type will be developed in the future under the development of technology, and a new wave of reform will be scraped in the food industry.