Free amino acid and phenolic contents and antioxidative and cancer cell-inhibiting activities of extracts of 11 greenhouse-grown tomato varieties and 13 tomato-based foods.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants synthesize nutrients, pigments, and bioactive compounds that benefit nutrition and human health. The nature and concentrations of these compounds are strongly influenced by varietal factors such as size and color as well as by processing. To better understand how these factors affect the concentration of nutrients and bioactive compounds, we analyzed 11 Korean tomato varieties grown under the same greenhouse conditions and 13 processed commercial tomato products for free amino acids and amino acid metabolites by HPLC, for individual phenolics by HPLC-MS, for total phenolics by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, for antioxidative activity by the FRAP and DPPH methods, and for cancer cell-inhibiting effects by the MTT assay.