New precious and healthy antioxidants as well as more than 20 metabolites in the peel of tomato discovered by scientists… and urge us to not peel them.
The discovery was made thanks to a new method of analysis of plants and microelements, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The purpose of the analysis, of course, was not the tomato, but the configuration of this new method of analysis which reveals that bioactive ingredients that are traditionally associated with particular species of plants, finally found in a lot more plants than what was believed until now researchers.
Experts explain that the plants produce more than 1 million tiny elements, and each plant contains about 15,000 on average.
The experts, headed by professor Asaph Aharoni of the department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Israeli Institute of Sciences Weizmann, they built a database that includes the metabolites of plants and is called WeizMass.
Then, the professor Aharoni designed a tool called MatchWeiz, and which helps in the identification of metabolites for each plant.
With the help of this method, it appeared that the plants are not so specialized in their metabolism as much as initially considered.
For example, valuable microdata from exotic plants can be found in other, more common plants. Indeed, many of these metabolites are often highly useful in the production of medicines.
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Don’t peel the tomato, advise scientists
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