Anti-parasitic activity of cherry tomato peel powders

Authors

Mendel Friedman, USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center (WRRC)
Christina C. Tam, USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center (WRRC)
Jong H. Kim, USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center (WRRC)
Sydney Escobar, University of the Pacific, California
Steven Gong, University of the Pacific, California
Max Liu, University of the Pacific, California
Xuan Yu Mao, University of the Pacific, California
Cindy Do, University of the Pacific, California
Irene Kuang, University of the Pacific, California
Kelvin Boateng, University of the Pacific, California
Janica Ha, University of the Pacific, California
Megan Tran, University of the Pacific, California
Srimanth Alluri, University of the Pacific, California
Tam Le, University of the Pacific, California
Ryan Leong, University of the Pacific, California
Luisa W. Cheng, USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center (WRRC)
Kirkwood M. Land, University of the Pacific, CaliforniaFollow

ORCID

0000-0001-5951-9630

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Foods

Department

Biological Sciences

ISSN

2304-8158

Volume

10

Issue

2

DOI

10.3390/foods10020230

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Abstract

Trichomoniasis in humans, caused by the protozoal parasite Trichomonas vaginalis, is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease, while Tritrichomonas foetus causes trichomonosis, an infection of the gastrointestinal tract and diarrhea in farm animals and domesticated cats. As part of an effort to determine the inhibitory effects of plant-based extracts and pure compounds, seven commercially available cherry tomato varieties were hand-peeled, freeze-dried, and pounded into powders. The anti-trichomonad inhibitory activities of these peel powders at 0.02% concentration determined using an in vitro cell assay varied widely from 0.0% to 66.7% against T. vaginalis G3 (human); from 0.9% to 66.8% for T. foetus C1 (feline); and from 0.0% to 81.3% for T. foetus D1 (bovine). The organic Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme (D) peels were the most active against all three trichomonads, inhibiting 52.2% (G3), 66.8% (C1), and 81.3% (D1). Additional assays showed that none of the powders inhibited the growth of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic fungi, or non-pathogenic lactobacilli. Tomato peel and pomace powders with high content of described biologically active compounds could serve as functional food and feed additives that might help overcome adverse effects of wide-ranging diseases and complement the treatment of parasites with the anti-trichomonad drug metronidazole.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Friedman, M., Tam, C. C., Kim, J. H., Escobar, S., Gong, S., Liu, M., Mao, X., Do, C., Kuang, I., Boateng, K., Ha, J., Tran, M., Alluri, S., Le, T., Leong, R., Cheng, L. W., & Land, K. M. (2021). Anti-parasitic activity of cherry tomato peel powders. Foods, 10(2), DOI: 10.3390/foods10020230
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cop-facarticles/813