Better Red than Dead: How Pomegranates and Raspberries Can Help You Stay Healthy

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-thromboticanti-inflammatoryantimicrobial/antibioticwound and periodontal healingdental and periodontal applicationsanti fungalanti mutagenicreduction of high blood pressureimprovement of stress response in ischemic heart diseasestimulation of bone metabolisminhibition of cholesterol synthesis and reduction of hyperlipidemiaanti-diabeticrelief from oxidative erectile dysfunctionstimulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and protection of nitric oxide against oxidative destructionreduction of cardiac fibrosisstimulation of immune functionsregeneration of epidermis and dermis cellsphoto 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.

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