Better Red than Dead: How Pomegranates and Raspberries Can Help You Stay Healthy
During the holidays Pomegranates are often a part of the festive edible table displays.
Coupled with various types of oranges, nuts, and fruitcakes they share the spotlight.
But, Pomegratates are beginning to get much recognition as a year around health food.
Our thanks to Gigi for pointing out all the research and terrific studies sharing the benefits of pomegranates.
The SuperFood Antioxidants
I am a label reader.
I love to read the different ingredients in all the nutritional supplements I come across when I am at the health food store.
I also love nutritional supplements that seem to cover the bases from A-Z.
So, I was reading the ingredients on a box of what purports to contain all ten of the antioxidant”superfoods.”
I read the words punicalagins and ellagic acid and wondered immediately what they were and how they affect the body. What I found was truly astounding.
The Mystery of Pomegranates
I love pomegranates and eat them every winter; in fact, when other fruits disappear until the following summer, I know pomegranates will be there to satisfy that craving for something other than oranges, apples, and bananas.
Punicalagins are found in pomegranates and are a tannic acid. Tannic acid is found in tea where everyone expects it to be, however, it is also found in many other foods and is good for many things.
Punicalagins are hydrolysable tannins, which simply means that they react with water to form other compounds. They are large poly phenol compounds and have high bio availability.
They are known to hydrolyze into smaller poly phenols such as ellagic acid in vivo, once they are inside you they do this, where they can then hydrolyze across the mitochondrial membrane of a human colon cell.
Very impressive stuff, because both of these poly phenols have properties in human health that are truly beneficial. Phenols are the backbone, so to speak, of most of the antioxidants found in plants. Poly is many, and include the flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannins, bringing us right back to the beginning! Sometimes I really love science!
Research and Studies on Pomegranates Benefits
One study in Taiwan showed that punicalagin alpha inhibited protein kinases ERK, JNK and Akt, all of which play roles in cancer growth, pointing out that punicalagins may be potent cancer suppressors.
One note on the above, is that I am not a molecular biologist, and that my best guess is that the initials above do indeed represent protein kinases and pathways in the human body for cellular growth.
The aril is the desirable food source covering the seed of the pomegranate and where the health benefits abound. Remarkably, there are people who have never partaken of a pomegranate, and do not know how to eat one.
The pomegranate has been the subject of 35 medical research studies since 1990 so there is a lot of information out there.
Ellagic acid is actually the compound being studied more carefully, and it is produced during metabolism of punicalagin.
Here is a list of some of the symptoms and diseases for which pomegranate juice is being studied for its benefits:
- chemo preventive anticancer agent;
- anti-atherogenic; anti-thrombotic
- anti-inflammatory
- antimicrobial/antibiotic
- wound and periodontal healing
- dental and periodontal applications
- anti fungal
- anti mutagenic
- reduction of high blood pressure
- improvement of stress response in ischemic heart disease
- stimulation of bone metabolism
- inhibition of cholesterol synthesis and reduction of hyperlipidemia
- anti-diabetic
- relief from oxidative erectile dysfunction
- stimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and protection of nitric oxide against oxidative destruction
- reduction of cardiac fibrosis
- stimulation of immune functions
- regeneration of epidermis and dermis cells
- photo chemo preventive protection against ultraviolet light, skin cancer application.
Can you say, “Whew?”
This long list of studies on pomegranates’ benefits was taken from a clinical trial article, and there were too many good things to leave out any of them out.
The Role of Ellagic Acid
When it comes to ellagic acid, the results are also impressive: when exposed to ellagic acid, human cervical cancer cells died a normal death; it also arrests the growth cycle of cancer cells, thus inhibiting the mitosis (division) of cells and cellular proliferation; and it prevents the destruction of a cellular regulatory gene called P53 (which reminded me of a plane my father flew in the Air Force, which may or may not have been a P53).
P53 is regarded as the safeguard of normal cellular division, and if inactivated, abnormal cell division/proliferation ensues.
Rather fitting for an Air Force fighting jet.
This all comes from a Dr. Nixon and his team at the Medical University of South Carolina, and some of his other findings were that ellagic acid activates detoxifying enzymes in the liver, and prevents the binding of carcinogens to cellular DNA, and stimulates the immune system for the destruction of cancerous cells.
Unbeatable Healthy Helpers
An important note that I came across in my research was that the freeze dried varieties of these compounds are very potent, which is important if that’s the only place you can find punacalagins and ellagic acid.
It is also important to note that researchers have not fully favored these compounds as an alternative cancer treatment, and that everyone is different; however, as antioxidants that prevent free radical damage and can help to keep us healthy, punicalagins and ellagic acid appear to be unbeatable!
Pomegranate Recipes
Don’t be intimidated by a Pomegranate. This red luscious looking fruit is becoming a hot new culinary trend and you can enjoy 70 great recipes in this colorful cook book.
The author’s brilliance goes beyond the normal cookbook recipes. The book is filled with traditional uses for pomegranates found in various cultures where they’re not just an occasional treat but a staple of the areas winter diet.
If you have more unanswered questions about pomegranates you can open up a whole new word of adventurous cooking with this beautiful cookbook with recipes that are easy to follow and yet very creative.
Visit Amazon > Pomegranates: 70 Celebratory Recipes by Ann Klienberg
Pomegranate Medicinal Properties
If the studies and research shared in the above article peaked your interest then you may be eager to learn more medicinal properties that are found in the pomegranate, its juice and seeds.
The editorial reviews of Pomegranate: The Ultimate Health Food state
“After many centuries in which the pomegranate’s medical usefulness was revered, but then forgotten in the stampede of pharmaceuticals, the pomegranate is again approaching center stage as a modern-day fountain of health.”
Learn about this helpful health book, visit Amazon > Pomegranate: The Ultimate Health Food
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Tags: ann klienberg, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, benefits of pomegranate, ellagic acid, free radical damage, medicinal properties of pomegranates, natural healing, pomegranate juice, pomegranate recipe book, pomegranate the utimate health food, pomegranates 70 celebratory recipes, punicalagins, superfoods
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