COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 23 (Nationwide Times) — A specially made tomato drink may have lowered some inflammation signals in adults with obesity, but the finding is early and does not amount to a reason to change diets on its own.
Researchers at Ohio State University, publishing in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, tested a tomato-soy beverage in 12 adults with obesity. In the study, each person drank two 6-ounce servings a day for four weeks, then went through a washout period before trying the other drink in a crossover design. The test drink was made from tomatoes bred to contain high levels of lycopene and was fortified with soy isoflavones. The comparison drink was a low-carotenoid tomato juice.
What changed in the study?
After the tomato-soy drink, the study found significant drops in three cytokines: IL-5, IL-12p70 and GM-CSF. Cytokines are immune-system proteins that can act as inflammation signals. TNF-α also moved downward, but the study did not report that change as statistically significant. The researchers also reported that plasma lycopene increased 2.48-fold after the tomato-soy drink.
Why does that matter?
For a normal reader, the main point is not that tomato juice is a cure. It is that a specially designed tomato drink may affect inflammation-related markers in the body. But the study was very small and short, and it measured biomarkers rather than long-term health outcomes. That means it cannot show whether the drink changes disease risk over time.
The study also found shared changes in the urine metabolome after both drinks, which the authors said suggested some tomato-driven effects may not depend only on lycopene.
Is this the first tomato-juice study?
No. A 2013 randomized study at Tehran University of Medical Sciences found that tomato juice lowered some inflammatory markers in overweight or obese female students. In that trial, IL-8 and TNF-α fell in the intervention group, and IL-6 decreased in obese participants.
Bottom line
The Ohio State study adds early evidence that compounds in tomatoes, and possibly soy isoflavones added to the drink, may influence inflammation signals. But because the trial included only 12 adults, it is best seen as preliminary research, not a basis for broad dietary recommendations.
