Modified tomatoes could solve vitamin D deficiency

Study finds that altered tomatoes could provide same amount of vitamin D as two eggs

A gene-edited tomato (left) and a standard tomato. Photo: John Innes Centre

Tweaking the genetic make-up of tomatoes could turn them into a vitamin D-rich super-salad and provide a solution to a pressing global health problem, British scientists have said.

About a billion people around the world have low vitamin D levels that are associated with conditions from cancer to cardiovascular disease, with diet being the key factor.

Tomato leaves naturally contain one of the building blocks of vitamin D3 called 7-DHC.

A research team led by scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich found that they could edit the fruit’s genetic make-up to make vitamin D accumulate in the fruit as well as the leaves. The changes had no impact on look or taste.

When ultraviolet light was shone on leaves and slices of the fruit for an hour, tomatoes gained the same levels of vitamin D as two medium-sized eggs or 28 grams of tuna, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Nature Plants.

Vitamin D is created after exposure to sunlight but the body's major source comes from food — mostly dairy and meat.

It regulates nutrients such as calcium that are imperative to keeping bones, teeth and muscles healthy.

Data suggest that about one in five adults and one in six children do not have enough vitamin D. Researchers suggested that eating only two of the new tomatoes could make up for the vitamin D gap in the UK.

Cathie Martin, one of the study’s authors said: “We are not only addressing a huge health problem but are helping producers, because tomato leaves which currently go to waste could be used to make supplements from the gene-edited lines.”