07.26.11
A team of researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP)—a joint center of the Universitat Politècnica de València and CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council—have identified a novel and potent natural antioxidant occurring in tomato plants. The phenolic substance is synthesized by the tomato plant when it is subjected to biotic stress.
The UPV and CSIC have registered the national and international patents of the new antioxidant and the laboratory procedures used to isolate and synthesize it chemically. The finding was recently published in the journal Environmental and Experimental Botany.
IBMCP researchers point out that the antioxidant power of the new compound is higher (about 14 times higher) than resveratrol. In addition, it is 4.5 times more potent than vitamin E and 10 times more potent than vitamin C. This substance could have multiple applications. It could be used as a preservative in food for human consumption, or in animal fodder, because of its action as a retarder of lipid oxidation. The compound could also have major applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
The UPV and CSIC have registered the national and international patents of the new antioxidant and the laboratory procedures used to isolate and synthesize it chemically. The finding was recently published in the journal Environmental and Experimental Botany.
IBMCP researchers point out that the antioxidant power of the new compound is higher (about 14 times higher) than resveratrol. In addition, it is 4.5 times more potent than vitamin E and 10 times more potent than vitamin C. This substance could have multiple applications. It could be used as a preservative in food for human consumption, or in animal fodder, because of its action as a retarder of lipid oxidation. The compound could also have major applications in the pharmaceutical industry.