Move over V-8 Vegetable Juice – a new tomato juice might be hitting the shelves if experts prove it to be beneficial to the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center is currently testing a new tomato-soy drink to determine the effects of extra soy and lycopene in a typical diet.
“The study will take place over nine weeks, then there will be a long period of analysis, and by the beginning of next year we’ll have some results,” said Torsten Bohn, the study coordinator. “We want to know how well it’s absorbed and utilized in the body.”
Volunteers signed up to take part in the study and will be tested over a course of nine weeks.
“We test the changes in the volunteer’s antioxidants and cholesterol, as well as the plasma in their urine,” said Michelle Blackwood, a researcher for the drink. “On the first day of the study we have them bring in their urine, take their blood and check their cholesterol. During the next week we have them on a diet low in fruits and vegetables. We want them to record everything they eat and drink. Then by the eighth day we have them drink the juice with the tomato and soy in it,” she said.
Within the next eight weeks the volunteers can have no soy in their diet and must drink six ounces of the drink in the morning and six ounces at night.
Along with testing the health benefits of the drink, researchers are also testing its taste.
“It’s not as developed as V-8 and it’s not ready for the market, but we’re working on its color to make it darker and we’re working on the spices to make it taste better,” Bohn said.
The drink is made with all-natural Ohio-grown tomatoes and some testers of the drink compare the look and taste to tomato soup.
“Along with the Ohio-grown tomatoes, we use soy, sugar, lemon juice, and several spices,” Blackwood said. “I’ve tasted it and it’s kind of like tomato soup, but not quite.”
If tests turn out to be positive for a person’s health, the drink will become one of many nutraceuticals (medicinal foods) on the market. It would also be another product good for the infamous carb-conscious dieters.
“Our tomato-soy drink is a low-calorie drink,” Bohn said. “It only has ten grams of carbs per six ounces – good for those who are carb-conscious.”
Blackwood also said this is the first drink of any kind to mix tomato and soy. If the product tests well, it could be on shelves, bearing an OSU logo, within a couple years, she said.
“The factors of price, taste and how good it is for you, would determine if I’d buy it,” said Craig Lemle, a senior in marketing. “If it gets approved by the FDA I’d take it.”
