Tomato Juice Targets a Trim

Tomato Juice Targets a Trim Waist lower cholesterol and inflammation

By modulating a key marker of inflammation, a daily glass of tomato juice may reduce waist size, among healthy women.

Chronic inflammation of fat tissue is a common aspect of obesity.  Previous studies have suggested that  lycopene, found abundantly in tomatoes and tomato products, can beneficially affect the cellular pathway involved in the inflammatory process.  Pei-Min Chao, from China Medical University (Taiwan), and colleagues enrolled 30 women, ages 20-30 years, with a body mass index (BMI) at or over 20, to participate in a study in which subjects ate a normal diet and exercised as usual, but were given 280 mL of tomato juice (containing 32.5 mg of lycopene) daily for 2 months. Tomato juice consumption associated with a 22% decrease in monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) – a key marker of adipose tissue inflammation, as well as a 25% increase in adiponectin – a hormone that regulates insulin sensitivity.  Observing that daily tomato juice supplementation shifted the adipokine profile into anti-inflammatory, the study authors write that: 

“These results show that daily tomato juice supplementation reduces waist circumference, as well as serum cholesterol and inflammatory adipokine levels in young healthy women and that these effects are unrelated to body fat changes.”

Yu-Fen Li, Ya-Yuan Chang, Hui-Chi Hunag, Yi-Chen Wu, Mei-Due Yang, Pei-Min Chao.  “Tomato juice supplementation in young women reduces inflammatory adipokine levels independently of body fat reduction.”  Nutrition, December 12, 2014.