COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 23 (Nationwide Times) — A specially formulated tomato drink may lower some signs of inflammation in adults with obesity, but the finding does not mean ordinary tomato juice is a proven fix. The study behind the result used a beverage made from tomatoes bred for high lycopene and fortified with soy isoflavones — a very different drink from the one on a grocery shelf.
What did the researchers find?
In the published study in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, adults with obesity drank either the tomato-soy beverage or a low-carotenoid tomato juice control. After four weeks on the tomato-soy drink, three proteins linked to inflammation — IL-5, IL-12p70 and GM-CSF — dropped significantly.
Another inflammatory marker, TNF-alpha, trended downward but did not meet the usual standard for statistical significance. The study also found that plasma lycopene rose 2.48-fold after the tomato-soy phase.
Why does that matter?
Inflammation is part of the immune system’s response to stress or injury. When certain inflammation-related proteins stay elevated for a long time, researchers call that chronic inflammation.
The key point for everyday readers is that this study measured biomarkers, not health outcomes such as fewer heart attacks, less diabetes, or weight loss. The results suggest a biological effect, but they do not prove that the drink improves long-term health.
What made the drink different?
This was not regular tomato juice. The study used a specially formulated tomato-soy beverage with concentrated lycopene from the tomatoes and added soy isoflavones.
That detail matters because it limits how the results should be interpreted. The study does not show that plain tomato juice has the same effect, and it does not show that a homemade version would work the same way.
How strong is the evidence?
The trial was small. It included just 12 adults with obesity, and each participant received two 6-ounce servings a day for four weeks in a crossover design with a washout period between phases.
Small studies like this are useful for spotting possible signals, but they are not strong enough to support broad dietary recommendations. The study itself is best read as early evidence that deserves follow-up, not as a reason to change medical treatment or expect a major health effect from one drink.
Did the study suggest anything beyond lycopene?
Yes. The researchers reported shared changes in the urine metabolome after both interventions, which suggests some tomato-related effects may not depend on lycopene alone.
That is one reason the findings are interesting to nutrition researchers: tomatoes contain several compounds, and the study suggests more than one of them may be involved.
Has tomato juice been studied before?
Yes. A separate 2013 randomized study listed in PubMed looked at tomato juice in overweight and obese female students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. That study reported lower inflammatory markers in some groups, including decreases in IL-8 and TNF-alpha in the intervention group and a drop in IL-6 among obese participants.
Because that was a different study in a different group, it should not be treated as a confirmation of the Ohio State trial. It does, however, add to a pattern researchers are still exploring: whether tomato-based drinks can influence inflammation-related markers.
The bottom line is simple: the Ohio State study is promising, but it is early and small. It suggests that a specially designed tomato-soy beverage may affect inflammation markers in adults with obesity, yet it does not show that regular tomato juice has the same effect or that the drink changes long-term health.
