If a tomato can stain your clothes, how can it lighten your skin? Have you ever heard of a
“white tomato?” Let’s explore it now!
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| Pearl Tomato™ is a proprietary tomato extract powder, uniquely rich in phytoene and phytofluene. This ingredient can be used in the food and beauty industry. |
Also called, white beauty tomato, the white tomato is native to the Americas. It might remind
you of a fresh-cut pineapple, melon or guava. It has a fruity quality. These tomatoes were
popular in gardens between the mid 1800’s and 1900’s. Then they seemed to drop off the face
of the earth until their seeds were rediscovered. Now, we are discovering their health benefits
and including them in our cosmeceuticals.
The white tomato is technically a colorless carotenoid and is a white tomato extract. Its
chemical name is the Solanum lycopersicum fruit. A few of the white tomato benefits are skin
lightening, anti-aging, moisturizing and broad-spectrum UV protection.
In a study done by the Journal of HerbMed Pharmacology*, it was determined that the
Lycopene in Solanum lycopersicum has an anti-aging effect. It was found that white tomato
might be a strong candidate for treatment of skin wrinkles. Lycopene is a natural antioxidant
that showed a good anti-aging effect when used with a suitable vehicle in lotion formulation.
It was also found that topical application of the lycopene suppressed the typical UVB-induced
activity of an enzyme called ornithine decarboxylase, an important initiating and rate-
controlling factor involved in stabilizing DNA structure in the nucleus of the skin cells as well as
maintaining the DNA double-strand break repair pathway. What this means is that lycopene is
able to offer significant protection to the cellular DNA and thus negated the need for the body
to activate its internal DNA pathways.
UVB radiation also reduces an important substance in the skin known as PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen), which is vital for DNA synthesis and cell repair. The topical application of
lycopene was found to reverse the reduction of PCNA caused by UVB exposure to a significant
degree.
In addition, it was shown that lycopene might also protect the skin through its ability to reduce
inflammation, encourage cell renewal, and inhibit normal DNA damage following UVB injury
which means it may help reduce the risk of wrinkles and protect skin against free radical
damage.
So now you know your tomato a little better! So, eat up! Or, if you are anything like me…you
would prefer taking a supplement over eating a tomato. The good news is, Vesta Ingredients
can supply the white tomato extract as a powder, and it can be taken in an oral supplement or
made into a lotion or cream.
*Shahtalebi MA, Siadat AH, Karbasizade S. Preparation and evaluation of the clinical efficacy and safety of tomato lotion containing lycopene. J HerbMed Pharmacol. 2015;4(4):142-148.