Benefits Of Pomegranate Juice

Pomegranate Extract

Pomegranate extract is especially exciting to some researchers because it does not involve the high calorie and sugar content of the fruit itself contains and is available in capsule form. Pomegranate extract benefits have been indicated in trials involving cancer, cholesterol and heart disease.

Pomegranate extract has excellent antioxidant properties. It has about three times more antioxidants ounce for ounce than does red wine or green tea.

Pomegranate Extract Provides Antioxidant and Anti-Viral Activity

Pomegranate extract has demonstrated a variety of beneficial functions including antioxidant and anti-viral activity. Extracts from the flower of pomegranates may reduce the lesions associated with artery hardening by 70 per cent, higher than levels observed by the juice, suggests new research.

Pomegranate extract is primarily made up of alkaloids and polyphenols. The active component that appears to be responsible for its multiple health benefits is Ellagic acid. This Ellagic acid is a naturally occurring phenolic compound found in several fruits and nuts.

May Be More Easily Absorbed

Several studies show that pomegranate is without a doubt one of most powerful antioxidants. One reason that pomegranate is so effective is the fact that pomegranate is absorbed in the bloodstream far more efficiently than other fruit extracts. One study showed a pomegranate extract to be 95% absorbed, which is far greater than any other polyphenol-containing fruit extract of its kind.

Protects Skin Also

Depending upon your skin care needs, pomegranate extract is a healthy and natural choice when trying to tackle certain skin issues. Due to the very powerful benefits of pomegranate extract, it could play a significant role in protecting the skin from all types of environmental damage.

Pomegranate Juice

Cancer-fighting chemicals are found in many foods. One food rich in these kinds of chemicals is pomegranate juice.

In two recent studies it was found that pomegranate juice may help fight prostate cancer. In one study, scientists cultivated cells from highly aggressive cases of human prostate cancer in tissue cultures.

Drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily may slow the progression of localized prostate cancer that is prostate cancer that hasn’t spread, a recent study shows.

The study included 48 men who had surgery or radiation therapy to treat localized prostate cancer.

Pomegranate fruit extracts slowed the growth of the cultured cancer cells and promoted cell death. The researchers then implanted the cancer cells in mice. A group of mice that received water laced with pomegranate juice developed significantly smaller tumors than the untreated animals. In a preliminary study of men with prostate cancer, pomegranate juice lengthened patients’ PSA doubling time (the longer the doubling time, the slower the tumor is growing) from 15 months before treatment to 54 months on the juice.

When the study started in 2003, the men’s PSA levels were doubling every 15 months. In prostate cancer patients, PSA (prostate specific antigen) is used to monitor their cancer.

All of the men drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily, and that slowed down the time it took for their PSA levels to double, as the researchers reported in 2006.

In 2007, another team of researchers bought pomegranates, made their own pomegranate juice, and tested it against human prostate cancer cells grafted into mice. Those tumors grew slower than other tumors treated with a placebo solution.

Prostate cancer patients with rising PSA levels usually opt for treatment with drugs that block testosterone. This “chemical castration” can have serious side effects, including bone loss, depressiondepression, and sexual dysfunction. It’s possible that drinking pomegranate juice can delay the need for such treatments.

Only purchase juice that is 100-percent pomegranate juice. Pomegranate juice “cocktail” or pomegranate juice mixed with others types of juices will not provide you with the same benefits provided by pure pomegranate juice.