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.
