News
Tomato Foundation’s ProFlow research consortium now formed.
From: David Sutherland and Jonathan Hawkins
The Tomato Foundation’s ProFlow research project started with a simple question:
Why does a dietary supplement called WSTC, made only from tomato paste, have an EFSA health claim for improved blood flow – but the tomato paste it’s made from doesn’t?
The ProFlow Project
Looking for an answer, the Tomato Foundation collaborated with SSICA and the global processing tomato industry on the largest study of traditional tomato products ever conducted, to discover the true nature of bioactive compound levels in individual, daily servings of traditional tomato products.
The results went far beyond expectations and showed that standard servings of most traditional tomato products like passata, whole-canned, puree and juice, have the same or higher levels of the same essential Tomato Bioactives needed to produce a blood thinning effect, compared to the WSTC food supplement daily dose of 3 capsules.
These outstanding results were published in the respected journal, The International Journal Of Food Science and Nutrition. The Tomato Foundation’s next step is to run human nutrition trials to prove the health effect and qualify for an EFSA health claim.
The ProFlow Research Consortium
After 18 months of discussions, reviewing all previous trial data and methods for Water Soluble Tomato Concentrate and then planning a possible set of human trials, the Tomato Foundation has now formalised the ProFlow research consortium.
Specialists with specific experience in human nutrition trials and health claims were carefully selected and invited to become partners. Top scientists are notoriously difficult to convince and need defined objectives and strong evidence before committing to a new research programme.
ProFlow’s focus and the sample study data have been key arguments that have been accepted as compelling evidence, and the ProFlow research consortium has now officially been born.
The consortium is close to agreeing finished definitions for many pieces of the human trial puzzle: Architecture and study design, methods and protocols, biomarkers and control material.
The most recent meeting was in June of this year.
The ProFlow research consortium partners are as follows:
- University of Barcelona
- University of Aix-Marseille
- University of Maastricht
- Stazione Sperimentale per l’Industria delle Conserve Alimentari (SSICA)
- The Tomato Foundation
- Caledonian Science Press
A project synopsis and cost estimate will be agreed in September.
The project’s Document Of Work is currently being structured and all the ProFlow partners have signed Letters Of Agreement and NDAs.
The Tomato Foundation has spent over 24 months searching for public funding from the EU or national sources. However the shift in priorities for funding research have changed and the economic support simply does not exist at this time.
Alternate sources of economic support are now under consideration. An update on the progress of the funding strategy will be made in the Autumn. For now, the Foundation can celebrate the successful formation of the research consortium and advance the planning.
The immediate next step is to communicate the scientific success so far through a dissemination campaign starting in Q3 this year.
The Foundation’s scientific discoveries are a story worth telling, with the power to add considerable value to all categories of tomato products globally.
To download a copy of the Tomato Foundation 2025 communications plan, the IJFSN journal article and the updated labelling guide, please follow this link:
