Prolonged Tomato Juice Consumption Has No Effect on Cell-Mediated Immunity of Well-Nourished Elderly Men and Women

Abstract

The immunomodulatory potential of carotenoids has been investigated thoroughly only for beta-carotene. Data on the immunomodulatory activity of other carotenoids such as lycopene are scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged tomato juice consumption on cell-mediated immunity of well-nourished healthy elderly persons. In an intervention study, 33 female and 20 male subjects (aged 63-86 y) consumed 330 mL/d tomato juice (47.1 mg/d lycopene) or mineral water for 8 wk. Immune status was assessed by measuring number and lytic activity of natural killer (NK) cells, secretion of cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)] by activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), lymphocyte proliferation, and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin responses. Tomato juice consumption resulted in significantly increased plasma lycopene and beta-carotene concentrations over time. In both treatment groups, TNF-alpha and IL-4 secretion were increased at the end of the intervention period, whereas IL-2 secretion was decreased. Tomato juice consumption had no effect on lymphocyte proliferation, DTH or the number of NK cells. Lytic activity of NK cells was increased in both groups at the end of the intervention period. In conclusion, these results show that prolonged tomato juice consumption increased plasma lycopene concentrations without significantly affecting cell-mediated immunity in well-nourished elderly subjects.

Daily moderate amounts of red wine or alcohol have no effect on the immune system of healthy men

“…Plasma was collected after centrifugation at 1500 Â g for 10 min at 41C. PBMC were prepared as described earlier (Watzl et al, 2000).…”

“…Proliferation was measured using the pyrimidine analog 5-bromo-deoxyuridine, which was quantified in PBMC by a cellular enzyme immunoassay as described earlier (Watzl et al, 2000).…”

“…Cell-free supernatants were collected and stored at À801C until analysis. TNFa, IL-2, and IL-4 were measured by sandwich-ELISAs as described earlier (Watzl et al, 2000). For TGFb, a sandwich-ELISA was developed using an anti-human TGFb monoclonal antibody (2 mg/l PBS, pH 7.4; R&D, Wiesbaden, Germany) as capture antibody and a monoclonal biotin-labeled mouse antihuman TGFb antibody (300 mg/l reagent diluent, R&D) as detection antibody.…”

“…Lytic activity of NK cells against K562 target cells (effector:-target ratios 50:1, 25:1, 12.5:1) was measured with a recently described flow cytometric method (Watzl et al, 2000).…”

Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Dietetic products, nutrition and allergies [NDA] related to an application on the use of a-tocopherol-containing oil suspension of lycopene from Blakeslea trispora as a novel food ingredient

“…Several clinical studies evaluating various endpoints upon lycopene supplementation through protocols using tomato-based products or tomato-based capsules, did not reveal any abnormalities in body weights, full blood counts, liver function tests or immune function tests in subjects supplemented with lycopene at levels ranging from 0.5 mg/day for 4 weeks, 15 or 30 mg for 3 weeks, 47.1 mg/day for 8 weeks to 75 mg/day for 1 week, and these doses were generally well tolerated with no reports of any illness or adverse biological effects (Micozzi et al, 1992;Carughi and Hooper 1994;Olmedilla et al, 2002;Agarwal and Rao 1998;Müller et al, 1999;Kucuk et al, 2001;Chen et al, 2001;Hininger et al, 2001;Chopra et al, 2000;Watzl et al, 2000). However, also these studies have not been designed to evaluate the safety of lycopene.…”