Folate Content in Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Influence of Cultivar, Ripeness, Year of Harvest, and Pasteurization and Storage Temperatures

Abstract

The effects of cultivar, on-vine ripening, and year of harvest on the folate content of raw tomatoes were studied. Folate content in hot-break tomato puree (HTP) subjected to pasteurization at different temperatures and its evolution during the shelf life of tomato juice were also investigated. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate (5-CH(3)-H(4)-folate) was the only folate compound identified in raw tomatoes and HTP, but tetrahydrofolate (H(4)-folate) was 10% of the folate detected in tomato juice. The content of folates in raw tomatoes ranged from 4.1 to 35.3 microg/100 g of fresh weight and was highly influenced by all of the factors studied. No clear trend of folate content with ripening stage was observed. The extractability of 5-CH(3)-H(4)-folate from HTP increased significantly after pasteurization at 98 degrees C for 40 s, but higher temperatures decreased its content. Tomato juice showed folate losses during storage independent of the storage temperature. Folate losses were higher when tomato juice was packed in glass bottles than in Tetra Pak.

Is 5-methyltetrahydrofolate an alternative to folic acid for the prevention of neural tube defects?

“…Low dietary folate intake is related to low consumption of folate-rich foods, long storage of the folate-containing foods, and a reduction in vitamin content during food processing [57]. Mean folate intake in European populations ranges from 180 to 280 μg/day [5,29,139], which is not sufficient to prevent folate-responsive NTD cases.…”

Effect of consumption of tomato juice enriched with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the lipid profile, antioxidant biomarker status, and cardiovascular disease risk in healthy women

“…Tomato product consumption in itself has been associated with a lower CVD risk, an effect generally attributed to antioxidant content, especially lycopene [24,25]. Tomatoes also contain folates [24,26], which play an important role in the lowering of homocysteine levels and therefore CVD risk [27]. The beneficial effects of tomato juice are a result of the interactions among different compounds and could be increased by the addition of other functional ingredients, which could have a synergistic effect with the existing natural components.…”

Quantification of Total Folate, Folate Species and Polyglutamyl Folate Distribution in Winged Beans (<i>Psophocarus tetragonolobus</i> (L) DC) from Different Cultivars and Growth Stages by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…Compared to stage 1, total folate is increased about 4 fold (from 31 g/100 g to 156 g/100 g) in stage 6. Early studies have reported changes in folate levels during fruit ripening in tomatoes, strawberries and papayas (22,(31)(32)(33). There are two studies investigating the folate level in several cultivars of tomatoes during ripening which fi nd a decrease of folate content when comparing the mature green and fully ripened stages for most cultivars (31,33).…”