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The Great Tomato Mystery
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: July 31, 2012
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How modern tomatoes lost their taste
When you think about tomatoes, the last thing that jumps to mind may be flavor. Though many people love the bright red fruit for its juiciness and nutritional value, the unfortunate reality is that most of today’s tomatoes are bland and tasteless, a watery shadow of what they should be.
If you’re a patient of medical weight management, you’ve likely already explored many different diet and exercise options to help with weight loss. Though you should stick to any guidelines given to you by your weight loss doctor, finding foods that are nutritious and delicious will make you more motivated to eat healthy by increasing your desire to continue eating those nutritious foods.
Despite the bland state of most tomatoes in American supermarkets, the tomato can actually be very aromatic, flavorful and richly textured. It’s an important part of the culinary traditions of many cultures and often makes it into our daily diets, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone who claims that the tomato is the tastiest fruit.
What happened? Why has the tomato become so boring and flavorless?
A Problem of Genetics
When tomatoes are picked before they ripen fully, shipped long distances and refrigerated for extended periods of time, their texture and flavor can often be ruined. Though it may tempting to think that these modern farming and shipping practices are the culprit behind this mystery of missing flavor, a recent discovery shows that a genetic issue may actually be to blame.
In the 1940s, tomato breeders accidentally discovered a gene that made tomatoes ripen into a uniform and striking scarlet red. In those days, most tomatoes ripened with a ring of green, yellow or white near the stem that many customers found unappealing, so tomato breeders quickly began to mutate the uniform ripening gene into all their crops in an effort to win over more consumers. The ripening gene also made it easier for farmers to determine when to harvest their crops, as most growers harvest tomatoes all at once.
Unfortunately, focusing on this gene had unintended consequences. Though the ripening gene increased the tomato’s commercial appeal, it also inactivated another gene in the fruit that plays an important role in developing the natural sugars that make a tomato sweet-smelling and delicious. By making the tomato more attractive to the eye, breeders unintentionally made it less attractive to the taste buds.
Saving the Tomato
Though this genetic tinkering has maligned tomatoes for decades, new research is helping to guide tomato breeders back on the path to a tastier tomato. Improving the tomato’s flavor will need the participation of the seed industry, which will ideally develop an interest in providing their customers with a better tasting product. This discovery may mean tomatoes that have a rich flavor and an evenly red color in the near future.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should outright exclude tomatoes from your diet in the meantime. Packed full of vitamins C, K and A and many other important nutrients, tomatoes can be a great addition to any weight loss diet, and varieties like heirloom tomatoes and wild species do not contain the ruinous ripening mutation. As we eagerly await the day when the state of conventional tomatoes improves, our best bet in finding the tomato flavor we’ve been missing is by going straight to the most natural sources, like organic grocers, farmers’ markets and our own backyards.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
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Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
