Anthocyanins and the nutritional value of food
The colour of flowers and fruits is caused by the presence of
different kinds of pigment belonging to the phenylpropanoid
and terpenoid classes, whose three major groups are
chlorophylls, carotenoids and anthocyanins. In some crops,
domestication has possibly resulted in selection for agronomic
traits that prevail over colour characteristics,
whereas in others, an increase or refinement in the pigments
naturally present in the edible tissues has occurred.
This is likely to apply to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.),
the fruit of which is rich in several carotenoid pigments,
such as lycopene and phytoene [1], but contains only small
quantities of some flavonoids; in addition, and somewhat
surprisingly, the fruits do not usually produce anthocyanins
[2], unlike the fruit of other Solanaceae, such as
eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) or pepper (Capsicum
spp).