Beneficial effect of tomato juice drinking on anti-mutagenicity of saliva

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of tomato juice drinking on the antimutagenicity of saliva.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Subjects were 22 healthy male university students. They were divided into tomato group and control group. The tomato group drank tomato juice for 10 days. The anti-mutagenicity of saliva was measured using the umu test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the tomato group, there was a significant increase in the inhibiting capacity of saliva on the mutagenicity of AF-2 after tomato juice drinking for 10 days. This increase was, however, temporary. In the control group, there was no such change in the inhibiting capacity of saliva.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These findings suggest the significant effect of tomato juice drinking on the anti-mutagenicity of saliva. In addition, lycopene may have played an important role in its mechanism.</p>