Research has shown that tomatoes and tomato juice contain powerful antibacterial properties that kill Salmonella Typhi, which causes typhoid fever, and other bacteria that are harmful to digestive and urinary tract health.

On the 31st, Professor Song Jeong-min's team from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell University announced that they had discovered two antibacterial peptides in tomato juice that kill bacteria by damaging bacterial membranes.

The research team first confirmed through laboratory experiments that tomato juice can actually kill Salmonella Typhi. Afterwards, ingredients with antibacterial functions were explored using the tomato genome sequence and molecular dynamics simulations. Through this, four antibacterial peptide candidates were selected, and among them, two tomato-derived antibacterial peptides (tdAMP-1, tdAMP-2) that were effective in killing Salmonella Typhi were discovered.

As a result of testing the antibacterial effect of two antibacterial peptides, it was confirmed that they showed strong antibacterial activity against not only drug-resistant Typhoid fever bacteria but also highly virulent Salmonella Typhi strains. It has also been shown to be effective against other intestinal bacteria that can harm the health of the digestive and urinary tracts.

The research team evaluated that this antibacterial peptide showed potential as a drug to combat E. coli, Salmonella, and Yersinia bacteria.

Professor Song said, “This study shows that tomatoes and tomato juice can eliminate intestinal bacteria such as Salmonella Typhi,” adding, “If children and adolescents learn about the results of this study, they will eat other fruits and vegetables as well as tomatoes, which have a natural antibacterial effect. “You will want to eat and drink more.”