Sometimes a food can be our best medicine and act as a natural protector against various conditions, and that has just been revealed by a new study that has found that tomato juice has antimicrobial properties and can kill Salmonella Typhi – a pathogen. specific to humans that causes typhoid fever – and other bacteria that can deteriorate the health of people’s digestive and urinary tracts.
“Our main objective in this study was to discover if tomato and tomato juice can kill enteric pathogens, including Salmonella Typhi, and, if so, what qualities they have that make them work,” said the study’s principal investigator, Jeongmin Song, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell University. The findings have been published in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Tomatoes contain beneficial compounds such as lycopene, polyphenols and vitamins and their nutritional composition has been widely studied and has been linked to numerous health benefits. In addition, these fruits adapt well to various regions and climatic conditions, the authors of the work have written in their article, where they explain that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi), which causes typhoid fever, “has been widely recognized as the main cause of mortality resulting from infections by enteric pathogens, and 21 million cases of typhoid fever are reported each year, resulting in 200,000 deaths worldwide.
Fruits and vegetables are a natural source of antibacterials
The authors of the study begin by checking in the laboratory whether tomato juice really kills Salmonella Typhi. After ensuring that this was the case, they examined the tomato genome to find the antimicrobial peptides involved. Antimicrobial peptides are very small proteins that damage the bacterial membrane that keeps microbes intact. The researchers chose four potential antimicrobial peptides and tested how they acted against Salmonella Typhi; In this way, they were able to find two antimicrobial peptides effective against this bacteria.
The researchers conducted new tests on Salmonella Typhi variants that appear in places where the disease is common, and also conducted a computational study to learn more about how antibacterial peptides kill Salmonella Typhi and other enteric pathogens. Finally, they observed the activity of tomato juice against other enteric pathogens that can deteriorate the digestive and urinary tracts of people.
Tomato juice is effective in eliminating Salmonella Typhi, its hypervirulent variants and other bacteria that can harm the health of the digestive and urinary tract.
The most significant finding is that tomato juice is effective in eliminating Salmonella Typhi, its hypervirulent variants and other bacteria that can harm the health of the digestive and urinary tract. Specifically, they discovered that two antimicrobial peptides can eliminate these pathogens by damaging the bacterial membrane, a protective layer that surrounds the pathogen.
“Our research shows that tomatoes and tomato juice can eliminate enteric bacteria such as Salmonella,” says Song. The researchers have explained that they hope that when the general population and, especially, children and adolescents, know the results of the study, they will want to eat more tomatoes and drink more juices made with this food, as well as other fruits and vegetables, because they provide benefits. natural antibacterials to consumers.
