There aren’t many healthier fruits on Earth than pomegranates. They’re almost unrivaled by any other foods when it comes to the range of benefits they offer to their consumers. But aside from that, some studies suggest that they can even treat some serious illnesses. In the following text, we’ll list a couple of health tips and examples that describe how good pomegranates are for your health.
Pomegranates Are Loaded With Nutrients
Essentially, pomegranates are shrubs that produce red fruit. They’re berries, and they’re usually around two to five inches in size. For those who’ve never seen them, pomegranates might look like apples as they’re round and reddish. Nevertheless, they have a flower-like stem on the top.
On the surface, this fruit is inedible as it has thick and robust skin. However, on the inside, it conceals numerous edible seeds. We call pomegranate seeds arils, and they’re red and juicy. You can enjoy them raw or like juice, although without the peel.
Their nutrient profile is quite something — arils contain fiber, protein, vitamins C and K, folate, and potassium. Moreover, they’re sweet, as they have lots of sugar and quite a few calories. But regardless of their nutritional properties, pomegranates are pretty healthy food with many medical benefits for anyone who consumes them.
Pomegranates Have Medical Properties From Plant Compounds
Two unique substances that make pomegranates so healthy. Here’s what you need to know about them.
- Punicalagins — Appearing in juice and peel, punicalagins are powerful antioxidants. In fact, they’re so potent that they’re even stronger than the likes of red wine and green tea. Therefore, it’s logical why extracts of pomegranates come from the peel.
- Punicic Acid — Found in the seed oil of pomegranates of the arils, punicic is a fatty acid. Not to sound nerdy or anything, but it has strong biological effects, and it’s a subtype of conjugated linoleic acid.
Pomegranates Have Anti-Inflammatory Effects
Many serious illnesses manifest in chronic inflammation. Heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, obesity, and even type 2 diabetes — you name it. That’s where pomegranates come to the rescue. They’re pretty good at fighting inflammation due to the punicalagins and their antioxidant properties.
Over the years, numerous studies suggest that consuming pomegranates can help reduce inflammation. Not just in the digestive tract but also in breasts and colon cancer cells. Interestingly enough, a certain study showed that consuming 250ml of pom juice a day will lower CRP (inflammatory marker) by more than 30%, which is quite something if you ask us.
Pomegranates Can Help Fight Prostate Cancer
Unfortunately, having prostate cancer is all so common for men. But some studies have good news for anyone who suffers from this dreadful disease. Pomegranates — in particular, their juice — can slow the reproduction of cancer cells. Moreover, it can induce the death of cells (apoptosis), of course, the cancer ones.
In case you didn’t know, there’s a certain marker that suggests cancer activity in the prostate. It’s PSA, short for prostate-specific antigen. And if those markers double quickly, the chances of a man dying from this type of cancer are pretty high. Luckily, one study showed us that its consumption (especially in the form of drinking pomegranate juice) could increase this period from one to almost five years.
This is a monumental discovery. It allows more time for further treatment, and it can save countless male lives. Furthermore, another study found something similar with the use of pom extract that we know as POMx.
So, what else can we say than — go, pomegranates!
Pomegranates May Lower Blood Pressure
Hypertension is one of the major factors when it comes to strokes and heart attacks. However, all is not lost, especially if you add pomegranates into the mix. Namely, one study suggests that people with high blood pressure (hypertension) made significant progress due to consuming 150ml of pom juice every day for two weeks.
On the flip side, similar results came from other related studies. These scientific researches also show huge health benefits due to pomegranate consumption. They talk about systolic hypertension, which relates to readings of high blood pressure that are critical. All in all, regular intake of pomegranate juice can improve your blood pressure results in as little as just two weeks.
Pomegranates Can Lower Risk of Heart Diseases
In case you’re wondering what’s the number one killer condition in the world nowadays, we regret to inform you that it’s heart disease. It’s hard and complex, and it comes about due to many factors. However, eating pomegranates can once again help us treat them. The punicic acid we’ve mentioned earlier can disrupt the progression of heart diseases and protect us to some extent.
For example, one study suggests that daily intake of 800 mg of pom seed oil can lower triglycerides by a mile, further improving our HD-triglycerides ratio. Moreover, another scientific research concerned with type 2 diabetes and people with high cholesterol showed positive effects due to pomegranate consumption. It suggests that adding pomegranate to your diet can lower bad cholesterol, among other improvements.
Lastly, pomegranate juice protects bad cholesterol from oxidation, which, if it occurs, is a key step towards heart attacks and other coronary diseases. It also reduces high blood pressure, and we don’t have to tell you how good that is, do we? High blood pressure is one of the most common reasons why our hearts can malfunction and leave us with a fatal outcome.
