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LONDON (Reuters) – A purple tomato genetically engineered to contain

nutrients more commonly seen in dark berries helped prevent cancer in

mice, British researchers said on Sunday.

The finding, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, bolsters the

idea that plants can be genetically modified to make people healthier.

Cancer-prone mice fed the modified fruit lived significantly longer than

animals fed a standard diet with and without regular tomatoes, Cathie

and colleagues at the government-funded Innes Center in

Britain reported.

" The effect was much bigger than we had expected, " said , a plant

biologist.

The study focused on anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant found in

berries such as blackberries and blackcurrants that have been shown to

lower risk of cancer, heart disease and some neurological diseases.

While an easy health boost, many people do not eat enough of these

fruits, the researchers said.

Using genes that help color the snapdragon flower, the researchers

discovered they could get the tomatoes to make anthocyanins -- turning

the tomato purple in the process.

Mice genetically engineered to develop cancer lived an average of 182

days when they were fed the purple tomatoes, compared to 142 days for

animals on the standard diet.

" It is enormously encouraging to believe that by changing diet, or

specific components in the diet, you can improve health in animals and

possibly humans, " said in a telephone interview.

The researchers cautioned that trials in humans are a long way off and

the next step is to investigate how the antioxidants actually affect the

tumors to promote better health.

But the findings do bolster research suggesting that people can

significantly improve their health by making simple changes to the daily

diet, other researchers said.

" It's exciting to see new techniques that could potentially make healthy

foods even better for us, " said Dr. Lara , science information

officer at Cancer Research UK.

" But it's too early to say whether anthocyanins obtained through diet

could help to reduce the risk of cancer. "

(Reporting by Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and )

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