Pretty Nifty GM Tomatoes

Shortly after my conversion from anti-GMO blogger to pro-science observer and rational thinker, I ran a series in Sleuth4Health called The Benevolent side of GMOs in which I highlighted spedific GMOs, science, and farming practices that I found to be beneficial to mankind.  Some examples are the Arctic Apple, Simplot Potato, Hawaian Papaya, Golden Rice. [1]

 

Today my post focuses on some pretty nifty tomatoes.  Add them to the list of benevolent GMOs, because this could and hopefully will be the future of nutrition.

Now, before I continue with this post, I know there are many readers who will immediately take the following stance:

What about natural tomatoes? 

Isn’t what nature makes preferable?

Can’t we just leave tomatoes alone?

Why should they be genetically engineered at all?

My answer is this:  when it comes to growing food, I am more and more convinced as I continue to learn that there is no such thing as natural.  If we left everything natural we’d be desperate and starving, if we even lived this long.  Man has tweaked the breeding of plants for as long as he’s been eating them – for economy, variety -for survival.  We all benefit from the myriad of ways we can vary plant species, from hybridization to full on engineering in a lab.  Tomatoes are no different.

According to wiki, the first tomatoes found on the planet were no where even close to the variety we have today.  In the South American Andes for example, the first tomatoes were cherry sized and likely yellow. Further north in Central America, a larger, lumpier fruit mutated from a smoother, smaller fruit.  Evidence points to this mutation as the likely ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.  Having such a myriad of different types of tomatoes to choose from nowadays is clearly a good thing, but folks, this ample choice didn’t just happen naturally.  Thousands of years of plant breeding got tomatoes to where they are today.

 

Science Really Can Save Us

I once heard a scientist say that nature is trying to kill us and science will save us.  When I first heard that expression and allowed it to waft through my brain, I was so disturbed by it, angry even, that I wanted to punch the person who had the audacity to say such a thing.  Now, after all the reading I’ve done about GMOs, about evolution and related topics, I unequivocally believe that statement to be true.  The only reason ‘nature’ seems to favor our human food needs is because we have made it so by watchful study, repetition, experimentation, careful maintenance of what works and then speculation about and innovation regarding what could likely work better.

So now back to tomatoes.  At the John Innes Centre, a non-profit research organization  in the UK, some pretty exciting stuff is happening with tomato research and development.  Professor Cathie Martin and Dr. Eugenio Butelli were recently honored by the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Counsel) with the “most promising innovator award 2014” for their work developing high levels of beneficial compounds in four types of tomatoes.

Here is a brief description of the four varieties:

1.  The “purple tomato” contains the same level of anthocyanins as half a basket of blueberries.  The anthocyanins are what give blueberries their pigment and are credited with being high in anti-oxidants.

2.  The large orange tomato weighs 100g and just one has the same amount of a beneficial compound as 27 bottles of pinot noir!

3.  The yellow fruit variety contains genistein which is also present in soy products and equals what is present in a 150g block of tofu.

4.  The fourth variety contains quercetin and kaempferol, health-promoting compounds commonly found in capers, radishes, onions and watercress.

The John Innes Centre (JIC) website offers the following additional description of the tomatoes:

The bioactive compounds selected are known to offer protection against inflammation, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Martin and Eugenio Butelli’s research is helping to uncover how the protective mechanisms work and which compounds are most effective. The tomato products could be used to complement medicines in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases and obesity.

The purple tomatoes have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects compared to regular ones and to slow the progression of soft-tissue carcinoma in cancer-prone mice. They also have double the shelf life.

Professor Martin adds:

The tomato varieties we have developed offer a new way to compare the protective effects that specific bioactive molecules can exert on the development of chronic diseases.

Crop Biotech Update says of the tomatoes:

The bioactive compounds present in the tomato varieties are known to offer protection against inflammation, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the research will help elucidate how the protective mechanisms function and which compounds are most helpful for the body.

Paul Carver of New Energy Farms in Ontario, Canada, where the tomatoes are being grown under glass, says:

The most amazing thing is the potential to supply an expensive compound from nature more economically to large markets for food, livestock feed, cosmetics, food colourings and even pharmaceuticals.

 

 

Imagine the Possibilities!

Now, I find this all not only fascinating, but very promising for nutrition and health needs in the future.  This could be just the beginning of any number of ways plants can be engineered for not only superior nutritive value but perhaps more importantly, a role in disease prevention.

Imagine the possibilites!  For mother earth’s exploding populations.  Third world countries.  Starving people.  Sick people.  Poor people.  All people.

 

Business Model Can Show Direct Benefit to the Consumer

The uniqueness and promise of these tomatoes also present an innovative business model which can be used to navigate the regulatory hurdles associated with genetic modification.  That is good news for all of biotechnology because at this point, the nay-sayers, activists, well-meaning politicians, lobbyists, and other groups who, perhaps unknowingly, use both hack science to invent safety issues and fear to influence hoards of unsuspecting consumers – all of these and more are what holds this technology back.

The technology itself?  It needs room and opportunity to grow and develop.  Like any other research.  Any other technology.  Instead, it has been most unfairly vilified and I find that very sad and counterproductive.

Here is a youtube video titled “Bumper Harvest for GM Purple Tomatoes”

 

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com

Source and Related Articles:

Top Tomatoes Secure “Most Promising Innovator Award”/JIC

Healthful Tomatoes Developers Win Most Promising Innovator 2014 Award/Crop Biotech Update

GM Purple Tomatoes Could Actually Be Good For You/Smithsonian

Bumper Harvest for GM Purple Tomatoes/JIC Website/JIC Website

The Possible Health Benefits of Anthocyanin Pigments and Polyphenolics/Linus Pauling Institute

 

 

[1] I unintentionally excluded a post about Golden Rice from the original series but covered it later on my blog.  See article here.  Golden Rice in fact deserves top honors in the benevolence department.

 Purple tomato photo at top is a still shot taken from video

100 Year Tribute to Norman Borlaug

Today I am passing the word and sharing a video about a 100 year tribute to an agricultural luminary and nobel peace prize winner – Norman Borlaug.  I admit that before my journey across both sides of the GMO issue, I didn’t know who Norman Borlaug was.  Now, I do.  What would Norman say in light of the GMO public information debacle going on today?  Better yet, what would he do?

An oft quoted website on this blog, biology fortified, (also a co-producer), says this about the video and Borlaug:

The International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) and Biology Fortified have produced a special video tribute to the late Dr. Norman Borlaug, a legendary CIMMYT scientist who developed high-yielding, semi-dwarf wheat that started the Green Revolution which is credited with saving over 1 billion people from starvation. The release of this tribute coincides with The Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, on what would have been the 100th birthday of Dr. Borlaug. His message of increasing food production and the importance of using science in this effort are still important today – perhaps more than ever as the world has over 7 billion people and still growing.

Read the entire biology fortified post here.

GMO Mythbusting, Part Two

At the bottom of this post is part two of ten brief videos tackling one GMO myth at a time.  The videos are produced by Greenstate TV and the guest for the series is Dr. Kevin Folta.  Rick Eberstadt, the man on the other side of the skype connection is responsible for these short interviews and as I’ve said before, did two with me several months ago. [1]

I particularly like this second installment of the myth series because it speaks to the extreme damage done to the public perception of GMOs by just ONE collection of photos.  Here it is to the right, poor rats with tumors bigger than their heads.  Who could forget them!

Dr. Folta rightfully shames Giles Seralini [2], the purveyor of the now infamous and retracted study of a Roundup and GMO corn diet that was said to cause a group of rats to grow grotesque tumors.  Seralini just conveniently forgot to mention that the control group, the group NOT fed GMOs and Roundup, also had tumors.  Why?  This species of rat is PRONE TO GROW TUMORS.

Now, I’m no scientist of course, but even I can see the gross misuse and misrepresentation of the scientific method in this deplorable study.   I admit that at first, I was horrified by it too, like anyone would be, but even my son, fresh out of two years of IB chemistry and biology, said upon hearing my account of the study, “what about the control group?”  Once I pondered the fact that the control group had been omitted, I remember thinking why didn’t Seralini do a better job?  And the omission of the control group was just one of the many flaws in the study, though it was perhaps the worst one.  It was disappointing to say the least.  And furthermore, this was before I converted to pro-science, back when I, myself, was still anti-GMO.

This study did more to dissuade me that GMOs are dangerous, frankly, and was one of the several mini-moments of truth I experienced as an anti-GMO blogger that started to wear on me and make me question if I was in the right camp.

It was, as many of you know, Folta himself who, via an email exchange with me a few months after the study was published, hammered the final nail in the coffin of the anti-GMO movement and convinced me, through sound reasoning, good information and evidence, that I had indeed chosen the wrong camp.

But as Folta says in the video, this one graphic, this iconic meme, has nonetheless elicited fear in people all over the world and is still doing so.  A lot of damage has been done here.  And like he says, it is truly sad that so many people are needlessly frightened.

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com

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[1] See the two parts in reverse chronological order here and here.

[2] Read the concise wiki account of the Seralini Affair

Ten Part Series: GMO Mythbusting

Greenstate TV,  a website with a subheading that reads:  exploring agriculture’s surprising role in solving modern global challenges, puts out short videos about GMOs and other related agriculture topics.  Rick, the interviewer conducts the tête–à–têtes over skype.  For short little snippets of reliable information or pro-science opinions, the videos fit the bill.  Rick even interviewed yours truly once.  (See the two parts in reverse chronological order here and here.)

The newest Greenstate TV installment is the first of a ten part series addressing the myths that abound over the internet about GMOs.  And who better to dispel those myths than a public plant geneticist?  In part one, Dr. Kevin Folta addresses the myth that GMOs are unregulated.

I will post the entire series as it is released.

Free Workout Music Makes All The Difference

InMotion Stamina e-1000 Elliptical Trainer

My post today likely appears a bit out of the blue compared to other recent posts – as in – it’s not about GMOs.  But the truth is, I constantly sleuth for all things concerning health, if even for my own personal edification, growth or welfare, and occasionally run across something non-GMO related that I feel deserves a write up here in the blog.  Today, I want to share something I am excited about.

For most of my adult life I have engaged in cardio exercises of various forms – cycling, running, walking.  I’ve completed four marathons, a few multiple day cycling tours and for several years was a competitive racewalker.  There is a box somewhere in my house full of plaques and medals but as of late, I’m not so ambitious.  I have slowed way down and  made the switch to regular walking and jogging.  And my Cannondale road bike?  Well, it dresses up the shed nicely.

One afternoon several months ago, my husband entered through our front door holding a gigantic cube of a box which held inside it an elliptical trainer.  It was so out of character for him to do something like this, come home with this funny looking machine without telling me about it first.  I was puzzled and entirely unconvinced of the device’s usefulness as he pulled the InMotion Stamina E-1000 from its styro-foam housing.

It was as simple an elliptical trainer as could be – no receptacle needed even.  No weird arm levers.  Just a small base straddled by two large foot pedals.  The price – about a hundred bucks.  I lost mt balance several times my first few tries but over time, I got the hang of it.  Though I can vary my speeds widely, adjust the tension, and go forward or backwards on it, it’s one drawback is this:  it’s B-O-R-I-N-G.

When I run or walk I’ve always enjoyed listening to music, especially trance and house electronic music.  The driving kick drum stressed on every beat seems to grow springs in my shoes.  It dawned on me, after a few months of being bored beyond belief on the elliptical, even while watching TV, that music would pep things up.  Just a boom boom boom boom of the kick drum was all I needed to rev up my motor.  But, alas, when I accessed my oft-used audio files or streamed Pandora’s workout station, it all just sounded stale.  Anything with singing in it had to be skipped as it was too annoying (and being a singer myself, I don’t understand this).  Something had to be done!

Then quite by accident, I discovered Podrunner.

What a find!  It came about because I had a new smartphone and was looking for fresh workout music I could stream.  After a bit of googling I was directed to Podrunner and there appeared a treasure trove of audio files, every manner of techno/electro/dance/house one might want for a high energy workout.  Steve Boyett, the DJ behind Podrunner, creates hour-long mixes of loops, house, trance and worldbeats from a website called BeatPort.   The result is fun and interesting workout music that is super easy to come by.

Now mind you, at this stage of life, and after a long career of playing pop, rock, country, blues and jazz in bars, I have pretty much become a stodgy classical music listener and don’t have much use for pop music anymore, but these digital diddies for workout purposes are an absolute must!

Every mix is labeled by beats per minute so you know exactly what you’re getting.  Some of the music will “ramp” up to get you going faster over time and some changes tempo every few minutes to give you interval training opportunities.  But the very best thing about Podrunner is that it is absolutely free.  Boyett gives a little speech at the beginning of each mix but I just forward past that and off it goes into seamless, energy invoking electronic walls of sound.

No more obtaining audio files illegally (yes, I did that and I know I will burn in hell for it).  No more guessing if it is the right tempo.  You can download each and every Podrunner file as a podcast from itunes absolutely guilt free. The easiest way to access the podcasts is to type in “podrunner” in the itunes store search bar and you’ll get the full list of offerings.

My new phone is Android and I don’t yet have an app to make it convenient to transfer itunes podcasts to it so I use bluetooth, which takes way longer than I’d like but still, it’s pretty convenient.  Now I have music if I step outside for a run or power walk, any tempo I want, but I also have an awesome array of rhythmically charged sound canvases to choose from when I get on that funky little elliptical machine.  Boyett has also put out an app that will change tempo and skip his introductions but I think you have to have an iphone for that.

The trainer is on the second story of my house and the floor joists have been rockin’ and rollin’ since I discovered Podrunner.  My arms are also free to create any and all dance moves or toning exercises while I bob up and down.

Exercising has seriously never been so fun!  I can’t wait to get back on the trainer.  My most sincere thanks go out to Steve Boyett!  Also, I know this all sounds like a commercial but I swear it’s not.  I really am this excited about Podrunner and I still can’t believe it’s free.  He does ask for donations but of course, that is voluntary.  I shall probably donate since I use it so much.

Being a musician myself, I have to say, the whole endeavor passes muster in terms of not all sounding the same, which electronica in general tends to do, yet having much variety while still maintaining that dance beat that makes workouts sail onward instead of lag.

Here’s to health and fun workouts!

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

sleuth4health@gmail.com

We’re Not All Lefty Kooks Out Here In Oregon!

I just happened upon this youtube video this morning.  It was one of those all too rare serendipitous moments that, when they happen, assure me all is right with the world.  I knew immediately I had to post it and give this guy some props.

We have in this piece Mr. Jeff Holiday, the quintessential dread locked Eugene resident, the stereotype personified of the 60s Oregon flower child that persists today.  If you aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, Eugene is the home of  the University of Oregon, land of the Ducks, and it has always had a certain reputation.  I attended this university, lived in Eugene for over two years and can attest to the pervasive western hippie vibe – the crystals, the hemp, the waft of patchouli, the New Age spiritualism, the Birkenstocks.  I lived it.  It was that way before I ever got there in the early 80s and it remains that way today.

So anyway, here is this guy who upon first sight evokes the uber-liberal-bleeding-heart-occupy-Eugene-Monsatan-corporations-are-evil activist.  Right?

WRONG!

Holiday exposes the anti-GMO propaganda machine in a way I’ve not seen before.  Among other unique points of view, he brilliantly points out how this activist movement is doing the very thing it accuses Big Food and Ag of doing – seeking to deny choice.

Please enjoy this breath of utterly fresh air.  Watch it all.  You’ll appreciate how he ends it.

And if you get a chance, see it on youtube and leave a comment for Jeff.

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com