Features
Ripe for the Picking
OAC prof explores ways to keep foods looking good and good for you
BY TERESA PITMAN
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| Prof. Gale Bozzo studies ripening and overripening of fruits and vegetables. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
You're at the farmers' market, admiring the over-flowing displays of fruits and veggies. Which ones will you choose to buy and bring home in your environmentally friendly reusable cloth bag? The pears that are turning brown? The faded-looking tomato? No, chances are you'll opt for the brightly coloured fruits and vegetables. They're just more appealing.
There may be something else important behind that visual appeal, says Prof. Gale Bozzo, Plant Agriculture. That brightly coloured carrot that just looks tastier to our eyes may also be the healthier choice.
The pigments that give fruits and vegetables their colours carotenoids and anthocyanins display antioxidant activity, some of which may be beneficial for human health, he says.
Fruits and vegetables naturally change colour as they ripen and then continue to change after being picked and put into storage. Bozzo's research seeks to improve our understanding of why in some cases the colours fade or become brown, and what we can do to prevent or at least slow down these changes. He became interested in the topic during his post-doctoral work at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he studied the enzymes that cause the breakdown of folates in plants.
I began to think about other fruit and vegetable components that contribute to health and what might cause them to break down. I realized these colourants are significant and thought it would be important to study the process.
The discoloration often seen on fruits is due to the decomposition of the pigments, explains Bozzo, and it happens thanks to the action of certain enzymes that occur naturally in the foods. With many foods travelling long distances from field and orchard to get to our grocery stores and home refrigerators, the loss of colour and antioxidants during storage can be a real problem, he says.
His research looks at the biochemical mechanism involved and should ultimately lead to ways to reduce the enzymes that cause the breakdown of the pigments, as well as strategies to boost the amounts of enzymes that can help stabilize the colour and antioxidant levels. That will mean bright, fresh-looking fruits and vegetables even if they've had to travel many miles or be in storage for a period of time.
In addition, preservation of the colour also means preservation of the health-promoting components.
Bozzo would like to work with nutritional scientists to further knowledge about the possible health benefits related to these colourants. It's that multidisciplinary component that makes his research tailor-made for U of G. The results may be important in agriculture, plant biology and nutrition, and each of these fields also contributes knowledge that underpins his work, he says.
It was Guelph's strengths in these areas that motivated him to leave sunny Florida and return to his home province of Ontario this winter.
The University of Guelph provides a good forum for doing this research and for applying what we're learning to help growers, he says.
Originally from the Toronto area, Bozzo earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at York University and his PhD at Queen's before heading to Florida. He admits that leaving the Sunshine State wasn't easy, especially given his love of golf, but he says he's happy to be here and that he appreciates all the support he's received from his department during the transition.
Another sport he picked up in Florida and intends to pursue here is kayaking.
It's funny, but I never tried kayaking before I went to Florida, even though it's more popular in Canada than it is there. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the waterways here.