OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY — A daily tomato-soy juice rich in lycopene and soy isoflavones reduced multiple markers of inflammation in adults with obesity after four weeks, according to a 2026 clinical study conducted at The Ohio State University. The findings were published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
The study involved 12 healthy adults with obesity who consumed two 6-ounce cans of the tomato-soy juice each day for four weeks, followed by a washout period and a second four-week phase during which they drank a low-carotenoid tomato juice as a control. Blood samples collected before and after each intervention showed reductions in three inflammatory cytokines—Interleukin (IL)-5, IL-12p70, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)—only after the tomato-soy juice phase. Researchers also observed a decrease in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), though that change did not reach statistical significance.
The tomato-soy juice used in the trial was made with tomatoes specially bred for elevated lycopene levels and fortified with soy isoflavone extract. Urine samples revealed metabolite changes following consumption of both the tomato-soy juice and the control juice, suggesting tomatoes may exert biological effects even without high lycopene concentrations. Changes specific to soy isoflavone metabolites were detected only in participants who consumed the tomato-soy formulation.
"The idea is, can we use food-based interventions to modulate inflammation? And can we test this in a rigorous way so that we can really see this is affecting inflammation, versus just saying something is anti-inflammatory?" said Jessica Cooperstone, associate professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State and lead author of the study.
Cooperstone noted that the intervention contains more than just isolated compounds. "This is probably a function of the fact that there's more to our intervention agents than just these two compounds. Ultimately, we want to have a better understanding of how the foods that we eat are relating to our health. And when we really want to be sure, we need to test them in clinical trials. And that's what we're doing here."
The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, the Lisa and Dan Wampler Endowed Fellowship for Foods and Health Research, and Ohio State’s Foods for Health Initiative. Cooperstone and colleagues have since secured funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a pilot trial testing the juice’s effects in people with pancreatitis.