It turns out that tomato juice not only makes us happy at social gatherings and dates when served in a refreshing glass of Bloody Mary, it also has the ability to be used to cure an upset stomach, at least according to a study recently published by Cornell University in New York in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.
As part of the study, the researchers wanted to test the effect of tomato juice on the salmonella bacterium, the same bacterium that causes salmonellosis in humans and animals and can be found, among other things, in chicken, turkey and types of meat that have not been properly cooked.
The main source of salmonellosis is contaminated food, especially animal food.
The fruit that is always in the fridge,
The team of researchers tested antimicrobial peptides, small proteins that destroy the cell membrane that maintains the integrity of harmful organisms in tomato juice, and found that the power of two types of antimicrobial peptides to stop the spread of the pathogen Salmonella Typhi (Salmonella Typhi) found in foods and causing symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 5,000 of the approximately 1.3 million cases of Salmonella that occur each year are Typhi.
Initially, the researchers tested whether the tomato juice was indeed able to kill the Salmonella typhi bacteria, and when they discovered that this was indeed the case, the researchers analyzed the tomato's DNA to locate the antimicrobial peptides that were involved in the process.
The team studied four of them, and found that two of the four were effective in destroying the typhoid salmonella bacterium by weakening the protective membrane around the bacterium.
Helps with upset stomach, photo: GettyImages
The researchers also found that the peptides in the tomato juice were found to be effective in destroying additional strains of salmonella that cause the death of more than 1.3 million Americans every year.
"We are hopeful that the research findings will encourage people to drink and eat more tomatoes in addition to other fruits and vegetables," the researchers concluded.
The Salmonella bacterium belongs to
the Enterobacteriaceae family and there are more
than 2300 serotypes (a certain group to which a substance belongs according to its serological activity) of the bacterium.
Of all the known serotypes, about 10% are defined as pathogenic and can cause the development of the disease in humans.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us