COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 23 (Nationwide Times) — A specially formulated tomato-soy drink changed some inflammation markers in adults with obesity in a small Ohio State study, but the result is best read as early science, not a reason to start treating tomato juice like medicine.
The study, published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, found that four weeks of the research drink lowered three proteins linked to chronic inflammation. The beverage was not ordinary tomato juice. It was made from tomatoes bred to be high in lycopene and was fortified with soy isoflavones, according to the study abstract on PubMed.
What did the researchers test?
Ohio State researchers studied 12 adults with obesity. Participants drank either the tomato-soy beverage or a low-carotenoid tomato juice control. They received two 6-ounce servings a day for four weeks, then went through a washout period before switching in the crossover design, according to the study abstract.
That matters because the drink was a tightly controlled research product, not a standard grocery store juice.
What changed?
After the tomato-soy drink, the study reported significant decreases in IL-5, IL-12p70, and GM-CSF. These are cytokines, or immune-system signals, that can be linked with inflammation. The study also found that TNF-α moved downward, but not enough to meet conventional statistical significance.
The researchers also reported that plasma lycopene rose 2.48-fold after the tomato-soy drink. In simple terms, that suggests the body absorbed more of the tomato pigment lycopene during the study period.
The study found some shared changes in the urine metabolome after both interventions, which the authors said suggests some tomato-driven effects may not depend only on lycopene.
What does this mean for everyday eating?
The biggest takeaway is caution. The study measured biomarkers in a very small group over a short period. It did not measure long-term health outcomes such as heart disease, diabetes, or weight change. The findings do not show that drinking tomato juice will prevent illness, and they do not justify broad dietary advice on their own.
That is especially important because the drink in the study was specially formulated. The research does not show that regular tomato juice from the store would have the same effect.
Has tomato juice been studied before?
Yes. A separate randomized study published in 2013 and indexed on PubMed looked at tomato juice in overweight or obese female students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. That study reported decreases in some inflammatory markers, including IL-8 and TNF-α in the intervention group, and IL-6 in obese subjects.
That earlier work is not the same as the Ohio State tomato-soy study, but it adds to a pattern of early research asking whether tomato-based drinks can affect inflammation-related signals in the body.
For now, the Ohio State study is best viewed as a promising but limited test of a specific beverage formula. It suggests the combination of concentrated tomato compounds and soy ingredients may affect inflammation markers, but it does not establish a new treatment or a reason to change diet based on one small trial alone.
