Two weeks ago my son gave me several bottles of pomegranate juice to try out so I thought that I’d look it up on the net. Here’s one succinct result:-

One pomegranate delivers 40% of an adult’s daily vitamin C requirement. It is also a rich source of folic acid and of antioxidants. Pomegranates are high in polyphenols. The most abundant polyphenols in pomegranate are hydrolysable tannins, particularly punicalagins, which have been shown in many peer-reviewed research publications to be the antioxidant responsible for the free-radical scavenging ability of pomegranate juice.
Many food and dietary supplement makers have found the advantages of using pomegranate extracts (which have no sugar, calories, or additives), instead of the juice, as healthy ingredients in their products.
Many pomegranate extracts are essentially ellagic acid, which is largely a by-product of the juice extraction process, and is not absorbed into the body. Other pomegranate extracts are described as ‘punicosides’, a new term invented by a clever marketing team and not found in any peer-reviewed journals. It may be advisable to look for finished products which have pomegranate ingredients that are backed by their own clinical science, standardized to punicalagins, and are of reputable quality.
In several human clinical trials, the juice of the pomegranate has been found effective in reducing several heart risk factors, including LDL oxidation, macrophage oxidative status, and foam cell formation, all of which are steps in atherosclerosis and heart disease. Tannins have been identified as the primary components responsible for the reduction of oxidative states which lead to these risk factors.[citation needed]
Pomegranate has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by inhibiting serum angiotension converting enzyme (ACE).
Pomegranate juice has also been shown to be effective against certain cancers such as prostate cancer.

Note: I have mislaid the source of this document but will find it and append attribution shortly.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Recommended Food Items. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.