Recently published in the USA and work of Prof. David Heber, Director of the Department of Medicine at the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA University:
According to the book “Bioactive Compounds and Cancer”, bioactive substances found in the pomegranate play a useful role in the prevention of common forms of cancer.
• The pomegranate contains 124 different phytochemical compounds and its antioxidants have an anti-inflammatory effect upon cancer cells.
• Pomegranate juice made from the whole fruit has a higher concentration of ellagitannins; as well as punicalagins, the polyphenol with the greatest antioxidant capacity known with regard to its molecular weight.
• Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice Granatum Plus Complex natural, is made from parts of the pomegranate that are not directly consumed from the fresh fruit and which are made into a product that is unique on the European market.
The Food Quality and Safety Group at Miguel Hernández University, Elche, have revealed in a recent study carried out with capsules containing pomegranate skin extract that:
The Mollar Elche variety of pomegranate has 10 times more antioxidant capacity in its skin than in its edible interior.
• The project “Granatum Europa”, in collaboration with Miguel Hernández University, promotes the consumption of the pomegranate and derived products which triple the antioxidant power of green tea or red wine.
• For the first time, products made from Mollar Elche pomegranates cultivated in Spain will be made available to Spanish consumers.
• The pomegranate is a great source of vitamin C and E and potassium, as well as containing the polyphenols responsible for its high level of antioxidant activity.
• At 40,000 tonnes a year, 95% of the production of pomegranates in the European Union is concentrated in Alicante.
Background and Aim: Epidemiological findings have shown that consuming foods and beverages having high levels of phenolic compounds decreases the risk of many diseases such as cardiovascular ones. During recent years, there has been considerable interest in identifying natural sources with antioxidant activities to prevent oxidative stress- induced damages. The aim of this study was to measure phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of pomegranate juice, its antioxidant capacity and scavenging effect on free radicals in comparison with other juices.
Punicalagin, the main ingredient of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) husk, is a high molecular weight polyphenolic compound. It has shown remarkable pharmacological activities attributed in the presence of dissociable OH groups.
The diabetic heart shows increased fibrosis, which impairs cardiac function. Endothelin (ET)-1 and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) interactively regulate fibroblast growth. We have recently demonstrated that Punica granatum flower (PGF), a Unani anti-diabetic medicine, is a dual activator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α and -γ, and improves hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and fatty heart in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rat, a genetic animal model of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Pomegranate juice is a polyphenol-rich fruit juice with high antioxidant capacity. In limited studies in human and murine models, pomegranate juice has been shown to exert significant antiatherogenic, antioxidant, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory effects.
UVA is the major portion (90–99%) of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth and has been described to lead to formation of benign and malignant tumors. UVA-mediated cellular damage occurs primarily through the release of reactive oxygen species and is responsible for im-munosuppression, photodermatoses, photoaging and photocar-cinogenesis. Pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common non-cutaneous cancer diagnosed in North America with similar trends in many Western countries. Geographic, epidemiological and laboratory studies suggest a role for dietary constituents in the etiology as well as prevention of Prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is dependent on circulating testosterone in its early stages and is treatable with radiation and surgery. However, recurrent prostate tumors advance to an androgen-independent state in which they progress in the absence of circulating testosterone, leading to metastasis and death. During the development of androgen independence, prostate cancer cells are known to increase intracellular testosterone synthesis, which maintains cancer cell growth in the absence of significant amounts of circulating testosterone. Overexpression of the androgen receptor (AR) occurs in androgen-independent prostate cancer and has been proposed as another mechanism promoting the development of androgen independence.
• Granatum Europa joins forces from Catalunya, the Canary Isles, the Valencian Community and the Murcia Region, in collaboration with German and Dutch food and agriculture companies, to lead the European pomegranate juice, nectar and extract market.
Several recent studies have documented that supplementation with pomegranate fruit extract inhibits inflammatory symptoms in vivo. However, the molecular basis of the observed effects has not been fully revealed. Although previous studies have documented the inhibition of nitric oxide and cyclooxygenase (COX) activity in vitro by plant and fruit extracts added directly into the culture medium but whether concentrations of bioactive compounds sufficient enough to exert such inhibitory effects in vivo can be achieved through oral consumption has not been reported. In the present study we determined the effect of rabbit plasma obtained after ingestion of a polyphenol rich extract of pomegranate fruit (PFE) on COX enzyme activity ex vivo and the IL-1β-induced production of NO and PGE2 in chondrocytes in vitro.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit is widely consumed as fresh fruit and juice. Because of its potential for health benefits, pomegranate fruit extracts have been commonly marketed as dietary supplements in recent years. The objective of the present study was to investigate potential adverse effects, if any, of a standardized pomegranate fruit extract in rats following subchronic administration.
Excessive exposure of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, particularly its UV-B component, to humans causes many adverse effects that include erythema, hyperplasia, hyperpigmentation, immunosuppression, photoaging and skin cancer. In recent years, there is increasing use of botanical agents in skin care products. Pomegranate derived from the tree Punica granatum contains anthocyanins (such as delphinidin, cyanidin and pelargonidin) and hydrolyzable tannins (such as punicalin, pedunculagin, punicalagin, gallagic and ellagic acid esters of glucose) and possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Most pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn., Punicaceae) fruit parts are known to possess enormous antioxidant activity. The present study evaluated antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity of pomegranate flowers. Alcoholic (ethanolic) extract of flowers was prepared and used in the present study.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is an ancient fruit with exceptionally rich ethnomedical applications. The peel (pericarp) is well regarded for its astringent properties; the seeds for conferring invulnerability in combat and stimulating beauty and fertility.
We previously showed pomegranate seed oil and fermented juice polyphenols to retard oxidation and prostaglandin synthesis, to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion, and to promote breast cancer cell apoptosis. Here we evaluated the anti-angiogenic potential of these materials in several ways.
The Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) by-product POMx was partitioned between water, EtOAc and n-BuOH, and the EtOAc and n-BuOH extracts were purified by XAD-16 and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography to afford ellagic acid (1), gallagic acid (2), punicalins (3), and punicalagins (4). Compounds 1 - 4 and the mixture of tannin fractions (XAD-16 eluates) were evaluated for antioxidant, antiplasmodial, and antimicrobial activities in cell-based assays.
A number of different beverage products claim to have antioxidant potency due to their perceived high content of polyphenols. Basic and applied research indicates that pomegranate juice (PJ), produced from the Wonderful variety of Punica granatum fruits, has strong antioxidant activity and related health benefits.
A recent profusion of pomegranate nutraceutical products, "standardized to 40% ellagic acid," has appeared in the marketplace. This Perspective reviews the chemical and functional studies of pomegranate as well as the virtues and dangers of ellagic acid, and concludes that synergy among the various pomegranate fractions and phytochemicals is the most important factor for assessing strength of pomegranate nutraceutical preparations, and not simply the concentration of ellagic acid.
Discussing its biochemistry, as well as its history, many of the researchers responsible for initiating our newfound fascination with the pomegranate examine recent findings regarding the fruit's preventive potential against two of the major chronic diseases of aging, heart disease and cancer, detailing the location, action, and bioavailability of the phytochemicals found in the fruit's flesh, peels, and seeds.
In the present study, 26 elderly subjects were recruited and randomly divided into 2 groups, that is, apple (low in antioxidant capacity) and pomegranate (high in antioxidant capacity) groups, and 250 mL of juice was consumed daily for 4 weeks.
The last 7 years have seen over seven times as many publications indexed by Medline dealing with pomegranate and Punica granatum than in all the years preceding them. Because of this, and the virtual explosion of interest in pomegranate as a medicinal and nutritional product that has followed, this review is accordingly launched.
Among males, prostate cancer has become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in North America, with similar trends in many Western and developing countries. One way to control prostate cancer is through chemoprevention, which refers to the administration of synthetic or naturally occurring agents to block, reverse, or delay the process of carcinogenesis.
Although pomegranates have been cultivated for thousands of years, the health-promoting properties of this "superfruit‖ have only recently come to the attention of the American public. Recent published research has focused on pomegranate’s ability to enhance the immune system and its potential benefits for helping prevent and treat cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and various forms of cancer.[1] Natural compounds in pomegranates may even thwart osteoarthritis, according to new findings published in The Journal of Nutrition.[2]
Dried pomegranate peels were powdered and extracted in a Soxhlet extractor with ethyl acetate (EtOAc), acetone, methanol and water for 4 h each. The dried extracts were used to determine their antioxidant capacity by the formation of phosphomolybdenum complex and antimutagenicity against the mutagenicity of sodium azide by the Ames test.
