Antioxidative activity and carotenoid and tomatine contents in different typologies of fresh consumption tomatoes.

The phytonutrient intake associated with tomato consumption depends also on cultivar and fruit ripening stage. This work associates the antioxidative ability, the level of carotenoids, and the amount of glycoalkaloids to the main carpometric characteristics of four different typologies of tomatoes: "cherry", "cluster", "elongated," and "salad". These typologies have different weights and shapes, and they are usually consumed in the Mediterranean area at different ripening stages. Results showed that the considered tomato typologies also differ in their antioxidative ability and their carotenoid and glycoalkaloid contents. Growing conditions are also important in determining fruit characteristics: the analysis of the same cultivar of cherry tomato produced under the influence of moderate salt stress showed increases in the lipophilic antioxidative ability and the amount of carotenoid, whereas the level of glycoalkaloid decreased.