Article: Organic ketchup protects against cancer

January 6, 2005

And the moral of the story is - eat organic!

This reminds me that I have to start some tomato seedlings here soon ...

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

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Organic ketchup protects against cancer

* by Anna Gosline

* 19:00 05 January 2005

Organic varieties of tomato ketchup contain three times as much of a

cancer-fighting chemical called lycopene as non-organic brands.

In the US, tomato ketchup comes in purple and green varieties as well as

the traditional red. Betty Ishida and Mary Chapman at the Agricultural

Research Service in Albany, California, US, wondered if the colouring

might be indicative of low levels of lycopene, the pigment that makes

tomatoes red.

The chemical has been shown to help protect against breast, pancreatic,

prostate and intestinal cancer, especially when eaten with fatty foods.

There is also evidence that lycopene can reduce the risk of heart

attacks (New Scientist print edition, 23 December 2000).

The researchers tested lycopene levels and antioxidant activity in 13

ketchup brands: six popular ones, three organic, two store brands and

two from fast-food chains. Purple and green ketchups had a similar

lycopene content to their plain red counterparts.

But organic ketchups excelled, with one brand containing 183 micrograms

of lycopene per gram of ketchup, about five times as much per weight as

a tomato. Non-organic brands averaged 100 micrograms per gram, with one

fast-food sample containing just 60 micrograms per gram.

If you want high lycopene levels, says Ishida, the rule of thumb is to

pick the darkest red ketchup.

Journal reference: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (DOI:

10.1021/jf0401540)

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