whether it is a vegetable or a fruit may never be established conclusively. But the luscious red of the tomato has qualities hitherto unknown: it helps prevent cancers. Tomatoes get their red colour from lycopene, a natural pigment. Lycopene is also found in pink grapefruit, watermelon and guava, among other things. It is the most powerful member of a family of chemicals called carotenoids, which can quench the potentially damaging effects of free radicals