COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 23 (Nationwide Times) — A specially formulated tomato-soy drink lowered several inflammation-related proteins in a small study of adults with obesity, but the finding should not be read as a reason to treat ordinary tomato juice like a medicine.
The study, published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research and indexed on PubMed, suggests that the mix of tomatoes and soy compounds may affect the body in ways plain tomato juice does not. But the trial was short, involved only 12 adults, and measured blood markers rather than long-term health outcomes.
What did the researchers test?
Ohio State researchers gave participants two 6-ounce servings a day of either the tomato-soy beverage or a low-carotenoid tomato juice control for four weeks. The study used a crossover design, which means participants tried both drinks at different times, with a washout period in between.
The drink was not standard tomato juice. According to the PubMed abstract, it was made from tomatoes bred to contain high levels of lycopene and was fortified with soy isoflavones, compounds found in soy.
What changed in the study?
After the tomato-soy drink, the study reported significant decreases in three cytokines: IL-5, IL-12p70 and GM-CSF. Cytokines are small proteins the body uses to send immune signals. The study also reported that TNF-alpha trended downward, but that change did not meet the usual threshold for statistical significance.
The abstract also says plasma lycopene rose 2.48-fold after the tomato-soy drink. That suggests the beverage changed what was in the bloodstream, not just what happened in a single lab test.
Why does that matter for everyday choices?
The main practical point is that the result does not apply to all tomato drinks. The beverage in the study was specially made, with extra lycopene and soy isoflavones. A bottle of regular tomato juice on a store shelf is not the same product, so the study does not show that ordinary tomato juice will do the same thing.
It also does not show that the drink lowers disease risk, helps with weight loss, or should be used as a treatment. The researchers measured inflammatory markers, not hospital visits, diabetes, heart disease or other long-term outcomes.
Why do scientists care about these markers?
Inflammation is the body’s immune response to injury or stress. When it stays active for a long time, researchers look for changes in cytokines because those proteins can offer clues about how the immune system is behaving. In this study, the drop in several cytokines suggests the drink may have had a real biological effect, but the result is still early.
The sample was very small, and the intervention lasted only four weeks. Larger studies would be needed to see whether the effect holds up, whether it matters clinically and whether it applies to more people.
Is there any earlier evidence?
A separate randomized study indexed on PubMed in 2013 looked at tomato juice in overweight and obese female students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. That study also reported changes in inflammatory markers, including significant drops in IL-8 and TNF-alpha in the intervention group; among obese participants, IL-6 fell.
Together, the studies suggest tomato-based drinks may influence inflammation markers under certain conditions. But the evidence is still limited, and the Ohio State trial does not justify broad dietary advice on its own.
