Passage 17
Salads could become more colorful-and healthier-thanks to unusually red tomatoes that could help to protect people against cancer and heart disease. Peter Bramley and his colleagues at Royal Holloway College , London , have genetically engineered tomatoes so that they contain unusually large amounts of lycopene and beta-carotene. These compounds are among a group of chemicals called antioxidants that are thought to mop up highly reactive compounds called free radicals inside cells Left at large , free radicals can damage DNA , possibly leading to cancer-causing mutations. Free radicals are also believed to play a role in the development of heart disease, triggering reactions that read arteries to fut up with fatty deposits.