VALUE OF THE TOMATO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

VALUE OF THE TOMATO.

RICH IN VITAMINS. A« an article of food the tomato is held in high esteem. It contains valuable mineral salts and ia particularly important as a source of vitamins. The chief acid present in ripe fruit is malic acid, usually about 0.5 per cent, and there is approximately 0.1 per cent of citric acid. Authorities differ on the question of oxalic acid, but if it is present in the tomato at all it is in very small amounts. The popularity of the tomato does not depend, however, upon theories based on chemical analysis for its high nutritional value, but it is as a source of vitamins that it has gained highest praise. The term vitamin is given to certain substances that occur in very small quantities in natural food material, and which have proved to be essential to satisfactory animal nutrition. Their deficiency or absence causes very serious diseases that have come to be known as deficiency diseases. Fatsoluble vitamin A is essential for growth, general health and reproduction. It gives resistance to bacterial diseases and ite absence leads to serioi» afflictions of the body tissues, especially the epithelial tissues, such as those of the eye. The tomato ranks with lettuce and spinach as a source of vitamin A, in which it i 3 richer than most vegetables and fruits, including the carrot, lemon, orange, onion and turnip. Ite red colour is partly due to the pigment carotene, which is now regarded as one form of vitamin A. More of this vitamin is present in the ripe than the unripe fruit. Vitamin B used to be termed watersoluble vitamin B, but the latter is now regarded as containing several different vitamins, which comprise what is known as the vitamin B complex. Of these vitamins B1 and B2 are the best known. Vitamin B1 is subject to change by heat. Its absence causes loss of appetite, loss of weight and a condition of nervousness. Vitamin B2 is not affected by heat. It affects growth, condition of the skin and, to some extent, mental outlook. The tomato contains both vitamin B1 and 82, and is richer in vitamin B complex than most fruits. Vitamin C is the antiscorbutic vitamin which prevents scurvy and controls the deposition of calcium and phosphorus in the tissues. The tomato is extremely rich in this vitamin, being hut barely inferior to the richest known sources of vitamin C, viz., oranges, lemons and »other citrus fruits. There is evidence to show that vitamin C is present in greater amounts when the fruit is ripened on the plants than when picked green and ripened artificially, but the amount is not appreciably decreased if the fruit is picked when turning colour, as is usual in this country. A most important point in connection with vitamin content is that, although the vitamins in most vegetables and fruits are adversely affected bv cooking, those contained in the tomato 1 remain practically unchanged.