(article, Ashley Griffin Gartland)
The U.S. government has long required flour manufacturers to enrich white flour with vitamins and minerals: niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, iron, and folic acid. Now researchers have done the same for the tomato, splicing genes from mice and weeds into the plump red fruit so that it, too, is full of folic acid. The new supertomato houses up to 25 more folate (water-soluble B vitamins) than normal fruits. Scientists believe the increase in folic acid could help decrease the rate of birth defects, anemia, and other folate-deficiency-related problems in the developing world. In the U.S., so many of our foods are regularly enriched (think cereal as well as bread) that we don't really have to worry about folate deficiencies. Even if you don't eat much bread or cereal, you can boost your folic acid with a glass of orange juice at breakfast, some chickpeas at lunch, and some dark leafy greens at dinner. And skip the weird tomatoes.