The average content of some classes of antioxidants is generally higher in cherry tomatoes than in normal-sized berries. The aim of this work was to assess the nutritional value of cherry tomato (cv. Naomi F1) by investigating the compositional pattern of berries harvested at different ripening stages and evaluating, in particular, all of the main antioxidants (carotenoids, ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, and alpha-tocopherol) and the antioxidant activity of the water-soluble and water-insoluble fractions. Results confirmed the relatively high level of carotenoids in cherry tomato but showed that not all biologically active compounds necessarily increase in tomatoes picked at later stages of ripeness. Cherry tomatoes harvested at full ripeness exhibited the highest level of carotenoids and antioxidant activity in the water-insoluble fraction. On the other hand, no significant differences in ascorbic acid content were observed at different ripening stages, whereas the main phenolics content and the antioxidant activity of water-soluble fraction showed slight, but significant, decreases at later stages of ripeness.

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Vegetables represent pillars of good nutrition since they provide important phytochemicals such as fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, as well as minerals. Biofortification proposes a promising strategy to increase the content of specific compounds. As minerals have important functionalities in the human metabolism, the possibility of enriching fresh consumed products, such as many vegetables, adopting specific agronomic approaches, has been considered. This review discusses the most recent findings on agronomic biofortification of vegetables, aimed at increasing in the edible portions the content of important minerals, such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iodine (I), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and silicon (Si). The focus was on selenium and iodine biofortification thus far, while for the other mineral elements, aspects related to vegetable typology, genotypes, chemical form, and application protocols are far from being well defined. Even if agronomic fortification is considered an easy to apply technique, the approach is complex considering several interactions occurring at crop level, as well as the bioavailability of different minerals for the consumer. Considering the latter, only few studies examined in a broad approach both the definition of biofortification protocols and the quantification of bioavailable fraction of the element.

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