Pomegranate – SuperFruit or Super Hype?Pomegranate, the red leathery skinned fruit that is older than the Bible,has become one of the hottest trends in health food today.<strong>The</strong>re is abundant mythological and ancient history regarding thepomegranate. In Hebrew tradition, pomegranates adorned the vestmentsof the high priests. In China, pomegranates symbolized longevity. InPersia, the seeds of the fruit conferred invincibility on the battlefield.<strong>The</strong> pomegranate has been used medicinally in ancient-times by variouscultures, as a plaster for leg and eye inflammations, to treat chronicdiarrhea and bronchitis, and for digestive ailments, including dysentery,stomach aches and tapeworm. Just as the ancients attempted to amplifythe goodness pomegranates had to offer and to harness its powers,modern medicine has rediscovered the fruit and is attempting to do thesame thing on a much higher and technical level.<strong>The</strong> fruit consists of 80% juice and 20% seeds. Hebrew legend fixes thenumber of arils to be at 613. <strong>The</strong> juice with its sweet and tart flavor isderived from the copious arils (juice sacs) which fill the inside matrix ofthe fruit.<strong>The</strong>se are held together by membranes and a soft and supportingspongy tissue. To enjoy the fruit, you must break away the arils from theirclusters and eat the arils whole, seeds and all. Some say that that the fresh,dark red juice released by the breaking open of each aril has a reallyfabulous, dance-in-your-mouth flavor.Interest in the fruit has been steadily fueled over the last six years by a growingbody of research. It has been shown that the whole fruit or fresh juice,concentrated forms of the juice, fermented juice, the surrounding red peel,the tree’s leaves and blossoms, and even the membranes and spongy internalmatrix might fight cancer, heart disease and infections. Pomegranatejuice has more polyphenols, naturally occurring antioxidants, than redwine, blueberry juice and green tea. In fact, scientists from Dr. LesterPacker’s lab at the University of California at Berkley, have independentlyconfirmed that pomegranate juice contains at least three major antioxidants.<strong>The</strong>fruit is also an excellent source of potassium and vitamin C.Ephraim Lansky is considered the world’s expert where the pomegranateis concerned. Working at the Rimoni Corporation in Nesher, Israel, hehas been toiling diligently for over 10 years to unlock the fruit’santioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties found infermented juice and seed oil flavonoids. Flavonoids have also been suggestedas cancer-protective agents. Lansky has found that the juice, peeland oil have also been shown to possess anticancer activities, includinginterference with tumor cell proliferation, cell cycle, invasion and angiogenesis.What interests Lansky about pomegranates is, the “extraordinarymedicinal properties of the tree itself, an idea that dates to Biblical times”and which, he says, “has been oddly overlooked by Western medicine.”Other Israeli scientists are now looking at the components of thepomegranate- the juice, the oil squeezed from the seeds and even the peelitself – as well as the entire fruit in a search for the source of its cancerfightingpower. Studies in animals and in cell culture suggest thatpomegranates may prevent, slow down or even treat a variety of cancers,Story and Photos by Peter F. Gromincluding breast, prostate and skin cancer. Yet another research group isclaiming pomegranates can help in fighting HIV and Aids.Pomegranate juice, in particular has been the subject of several recentstudies. For instance, a team of Italian and American researchers reportedin the March 29, 2005, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences that hypercholesterolemic mice that drank pomegranate juiceduring an experiment reduced their rate of plaque buildup by 30%. <strong>The</strong>team also reported that cultured human heart cells exposed topomegranate juice increased their production of nitric oxide, whichrelaxes blood vessel walls by 50%. <strong>The</strong> research theorized that the juice’sability to boost nitric oxide production, along with its high polyphenolcontent, may help explain its cardioprotective effects.A breakthrough article came in 2000 in support of pomegranate juice.Israeli scientists, headed by Michael Aviram, DSC, gave pomegranatejuice to healthy male volunteers and also to mice that were geneticallypredisposed to develop heart disease. After just 14 weeks, the team found“potent antioxidative effects of pomegranate juice” on the oxidation oflipids and on isolated fractions of the “good cholesterol” HDL and the“bad cholesterol” LDL, in both humans and test rodents. In humans,pomegranate juice consumption decreased LDL activity and increasedmarkers for the HDL levels by a significant 20%. In the mice, the oxidationof LDL was reduced by up to 90% after pomegranate juice consumption.Finally, pomegranate juice reduced the size of plaque in the arteriesof the mice by 44%. <strong>The</strong>se are certainly encouraging and impressivenumbers. <strong>The</strong> team concluded that pomegranate juice had potent antiheart-diseaseeffects in both healthy humans and in disease–prone mice.In 2001, the same team showed that a mere 1.7 ounces per day ofpomegranate juice over two weeks lowered the systolic blood pressure ofhypertensive patients by five percent. <strong>The</strong> authors concluded that“pomegranate juice can offer a wide protection against cardiovascular diseaseswhich could be related to its inhibitory effect on oxidative stress….”With this budding success, many investigators are finding that theirobservations warrant confirmation in randomized trials.<strong>The</strong>se trials wouldbest determine whether the pomegranate is truly to become a serious foodmedicine. And so with the pomegranate - everything old is new again!Peter F. Grom, a scientist working in the medical field, has special interests in the space program, air and sea shows, football and car racing.116 FEBRUARY <strong>2008</strong>
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