Tomato juice for better weight management?

Theresa Greenwell, International Science

Managing one’s weight is never easy. Often, once someone loses weight, it is hard to keep that weight off.  Supplementing with herbals and eating healthy, while keeping active, can make that continued struggle easier, but it can also make it very challenging. A recent study published in Nutrition (December, 2014) may offer many people a way to make weight management easier and affordable.

This study asked test participants to simply drink approximately 9 ½ ounces of tomato juice (containing 32.5 mg of lycopene) one time a day for 8 weeks. Subjects were instructed not to make any changes to their eating or exercise habits during the 8 weeks.  At study completion, significant reductions in body weight, body fat, waist circumference and BMI were observed.  Additionally, study results showed a marked decrease in cholesterol, while supporting a significant increase in adiponectin, a protein hormone secreted by fat cells that is important for glucose level regulation and is inversely associated with body fat percent.

Tomato juice can be a simple and a relatively inexpensive item to add to one’s daily intake.  It is a good source of both vitamin C and lycopene, both of which act as antioxidants and are reported to have various health related benefits.

This type of intervention may not be for everyone and further research is still necessary. Some weaknesses of the study were that no control group existed and the participants were young adults of normal/average health and weight. This does not mean that others would not see the same benefits!  This type of supplementation may be best for those who are looking to keep weight off or have a lower amount of weight to lose.  This may also help those who have more weight to lose to tip the scales in their favor.