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.
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Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Juice Supplementation Attenuates Isoproterenol-Induced Cardiac Necrosis in Rats.
Jadeja RN, Thounaojam MC, Patel DK, Devkar RV, Ramachandran AV.
Division of Phytotherapeutics and Metabolic Endocrinology, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The M S University of Baroda, Vadodara, 390002, GJ, India.
Britain's self-styled Domestic Goddess has launched her first tastebud-tickling iPhone application.
Nigella's Quick Collection, which features 70 easy-to-make recipes, shot to the top of the UK app sales charts this week, the Guardian reported. The sultry chef's app nudged ahead of Jamie Oliver's 20-Minute-Meals app, which remains a best seller six months after it launched in October. Hell's Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay is set to follow soon with an app to be released in July, proving that the hunger for culinary apps shows no sign of abating.
Nigella's Quick Collection allows users to browse by chapter, mood, or even by what's in the fridge to create dishes such as Pasta with Courgettes, Rocket (arugula) and Pinenuts and Cheesecake in a Glass. Dinner invitations can be sent to friends using Facebook or email and there's a neat "forwards" and "backwards" voice control feature to keep sticky fingers away from the touch screen.
Video content shows Lawson sharing some of her culinary tips: from de-seeding pomegranates with the thwack of a wooden spoon — "There it is, innocent fun," she says with a glint in her eyes — to choosing the best chorizo.
Classic: Uses lime chunks muddled with raw sugar, topped with crushed ice and vodka.
Twisted: Ingredients: 4-5 big pomegranate chunks with seeds, pips, skin, fibers etc. (instead of lime chunks), 2-3 lemon chunks (for the sourness), 1 tsp sugar, a full measure vodka and crushed ice.
Method: In an old-fashioned glass, take pomegranate chunks, lemon chunks, sugar and muddle. Muddle enough for a good amount of the pomegranate juice to be extracted. But be careful that you don’t put too much pressure, else the skin may impart excessive bitterness to the drink. Top the glass with crushed ice, add a full measure of vodka, give it a short shake, pour the mix back into the same glass and serve.
The pomegranate seeds bring a slight sweetness while the skin imparts a slight bitterness (as opposed to the lime peel in the original drink).
Farmers in Yemen’s northern governorate of Saada have been hit hard by recent fighting between Yemeni government forces and Houthi-led Shia rebels, according to farmers and officials.
About 60 percent of Saada farmland was abandoned, looted or damaged during fighting in 2008, according to Mohamed al-Emad, head of Saada local council, “but during the 2009 clashes, which were fiercer and more widespread and continued for a longer time, the figure may be even higher,” he said.
He said over 140,000 people in Saada depend on pomegranate and peach cultivation. “Their livelihoods are in jeopardy as they couldn’t make money during the last harvest, which coincided with the clashes.”
A few years back, when I was a beginner in the food world, I took a pastry job in a very busy restaurant. My job included making and plating desserts during dinner service. When serving between 500 and 600 people a night, this is a daunting task. My inner planner never felt fully prepared.
Loud, hot, and fast-paced, a restaurant's kitchen is a place where people yell and scream at each other. You get used to it. The keys: Don't take all the criticism to heart, and stay sharp at all times.
One night, I was tasked with seeding pomegranates for a pastry garnish, and also with running the pantry station that would use the many remaining seeds in a salad.
I was a bit put out at the request, as I had mounds of mise en place (prep work for the chef) that I needed to get through and it took me a long time to seed just one pomegranate – cutting it open, banging it with a spoon to get the seeds to fall out, then setting to the task of dislodging the little pink seeds that didn't want to leave their cozy cobweblike membrane.
The pomegranate extract possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities linked to the presence of anthocyanins, ellagic tannins, and hydrolyzable tannins. Recent researches show that the pomegranate polyphenols are important in preventing cardiovascular diseases and significantly decrease the thickness of the carotid intima-media. Furthermore, a high decrease in blood pressure, process of atherosclerosis, and its ability to increase HDL cholesterol were observed. Clinical studies show its effectiveness against certain cancers, particularly prostate cancer. The efficacy of pomegranate juice is mainly due to its high bioavailability compared to other polyphenols such as resveratrol.
April 14, 2010 - Woodland Hills, CA (April 14, 2010) Nutrition, anti-aging, and weight loss expert, Dr. Jonny Bowden, recently unveiled his “7 Keys to Longevity,” which focuses on important lifestyle behaviors that will positively affect one’s mind, body and soul. This comes in conjunction with his greatly anticipated, new book, The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer.
When asked about the “keys to longevity”, Bowden replied, “The challenge for me is always to narrow a list like this down to so few items. I actually came up with 14 tips but whittled it down. The full list of strategies for living longer and healthier is in my new book. And the abbreviated list was sent to my newsletter subscribers.”
Dr. Bowden’s list includes powerful nutrients and “super foods” that many consumers may overlook in their everyday diet. The “top 3” keys to longevity include the following:
1. Drink 4 oz of pomegranate juice every day. Pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. In one study, the antioxidant levels in pomegranate were three times that of red wine or green tea. Since part of aging is due to free radical damage (oxidation), foods rich in antioxidants may delay some of the effects of aging. And one study showed that a daily glass of pomegranate juice can significantly slow the progress of prostate cancer.
Pomegranates have long been the pride of Afghan agriculture, but have now become a weapon in international-led efforts to curb opium production and fight the rural poverty that is feeding the Taliban insurgency. Demand for the fruit has risen steeply in the West on the back of its fabled health-giving properties. Now, American agricultural advisers are working with the Afghan government to help farmers tap that demand and earn an alternative livelihood to poppy cultivation by showing how, with marketing and packaging, they can raise prices.
Haji Yakut says his pomegranates are now fetching seven times the price they sold for 10 years ago, because he has been introduced to international buyers. "Kandahar is the home of pomegranates. The shape and quality here are very good," he says. "Before we didn't get any income from pomegranates but now we are getting more than we thought possible."
The antioxidant activity of pomegranate juices was evaluated by four different methods (ABTS, DPPH, DMPD, and FRAP) and compared to those of red wine and a green tea infusion. Commercial pomegranate juices showed an antioxidant activity (18-20 TEAC) three times higher than those of red wine and green tea (6-8 TEAC). The activity was higher in commercial juices extracted from whole pomegranates than in experimental juices obtained from the arils only (12-14 TEAC). HPLCDAD and HPLC-MS analyses of the juices revealed that commercial juices contained thepomegranate tannin punicalagin (1500-1900 mg/L) while only traces of this compound were detected in the experimental juice obtained from arils in the laboratory. This shows that pomegranate industrial processing extracts some of the hydrolyzable tannins present in the fruit rind. This could account for the higher antioxidant activity of commercial juices compared to the experimental ones. In addition, anthocyanins, ellagic acid derivatives, and hydrolyzable tannins were detected and quantified in the pomegranate juices.
Antioxidant activities of freeze-dried preparations of a 70% acetone extract of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) and its three major anthocyanidins (delphinidin, cyanidin, and pelargonidin) were evaluated. Free radical scavenging activities were examined using an ESR technique with spin trapping; DMPO for hydroxyl (OH) and superoxide (O2-) radicals; and [(MGD)2Fe2+] for nitric oxide (NO). Inhibitory effects on lipid peroxidation were estimated by the levels of malonaldehyde and 4-hydroxyalkenals in rat brain homogenates. Pomegranate extract exhibited scavenging activity against OH and O2-. Anthocyanidins inhibited a Fenton reagent âOH generating system possibly by chelating with ferrous ion. Anthocyanidins scavenged O2- in a dose-dependent manner. The ID50 values of delphinidin, cyanidin, and pelargonidin were 2.4, 22, and 456 μM, respectively. In contrast, anthocyanidins did not effectively scavenge NO. Anthocyanidins inhibited H2O2-induced lipid peroxidation in the rat brain homogenates. The ID50 values of delphinidin, cyanidin, and pelargonidin for them were 0.7, 3.5, and 85 μM, respectively. These findings suggest that the above anthocyanidins contribute to the antioxidant activity of pomegranate fruits.
The antioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum) fermented juice and seed oil flavonoids were studied. The pomegranate fermented juice (pfj) and cold pressed seed oil (pcpso) showed strong antioxidant activity close to that of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and green tea (Thea sinensis), and significantly greater than that of red wine (Vitis 6itifera). Flavonoids extracted from pcpso showed 31–44% inhibition of sheep cyclooxygenase and 69–81% inhibition of soybean lipoxygenase. Flavonoids extracted from The pomegranate fermented juice showed 21–30% inhibition of soybean lipoxygenase though no significant inhibition of sheep cyclooxygenase. The pcpso was analyzed for its polyphenol content and fatty acid composition. Total polyphenols in pcpso showed a concentration by weight of approximately 0.015%. Pcpso fatty acid composition showed punicic acid (65.3%) along with palmitic acid (4.8%), stearic acid (2.3%), oleic acid (6.3%), linoleic acid (6.6%) and three unidentified peaks from which two (14.2%) are probably isomers of punicic acid (El-Shaarawy, M.I., Nahpetian, A., 1983).
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruits are widely consumed as juice (PJ). The potent antioxidant and anti-atherosclerotic activities of pomegranate juice are attributed to its polyphenols including punicalagin, the major fruit ellagitannin, and ellagic acid (EA). Punicalagin is the major antioxidant polyphenol ingredient in pomegranate juice. Punicalagin, EA, a standardized total pomegranate tannin (TPT) extract and pomegranate juice were evaluated for in vitro antiproliferative, apoptotic and antioxidant activities. Punicalagin, EA and TPT were evaluated for antiproliferative activity at 12.5–100 Ag/ml on human oral (KB, CAL27), colon (HT-29, HCT116, SW480, SW620) and prostate (RWPE-1, 22Rv1) tumor cells. Punicalagin, EA and TPT were evaluated at 100 Ag/ml concentrations for apoptotic effects and at 10 Ag/ml concentrations for antioxidant properties. However, to evaluate the synergistic and/or additive contributions from other pomegranate juice phytochemicals, pomegranate juice was tested at concentrations normalized to deliver equivalent amounts of punicalagin (w/w). Apoptotic effects were evaluated against the HT-29 and HCT116 colon cancer cell lines. Antioxidant effects were evaluated using inhibition of lipid peroxidation and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays. Pomegranate juice showed greatest antiproliferative activity against all cell lines by inhibiting proliferation from 30% to 100%. At 100 Ag/ml, PJ, EA, punicalagin and TPT induced apoptosis in HT-29 colon cells. However, in the HCT116 colon cells, EA, punicalagin and TPT but not pomegranate juice induced apoptosis. The trend in antioxidant activity was PJ>TPT>punicalagin>EA. The superior bioactivity of pomegranate juice compared to its purified polyphenols illustrated the multifactorial effects and chemical synergy of the action of multiple compounds compared to single purified active ingredients.
• 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.
A whole food diet advocates eating unprocessed fruits and vegetables, unrefined grains such as wheat, oat, barley, maize and brown rice instead of white rice, white flour and white bread. Does the logical extension of the whole food diet mean we should also eat fruits whole, peel, pulp and pith? Recent research suggests that in some cases we should.
Whole and unprocessed foods contain high levels of antioxidants, fibre and phytochemicals — natural plant chemicals — that protect the body from chronic diseases. As a very basic rule, the darker the colour of your fresh fruits, the more antioxidants they will have. Phytochemicals include potentially cancer-fighting compounds and polyphenols that are antioxidants present in high concentration in the skins of fruit.
The antioxidant activity of pomegranate juices was evaluated by four different methods (ABTS, DPPH, DMPD, and FRAP) and compared to those of red wine and a green tea infusion. Commercial pomegranate juices showed an antioxidant activity (18-20 TEAC) three times higher than those of red wine and green tea (6-8 TEAC).
Inhibition of lipid peroxidation contributes to the attenuation of macrophage cholesterol accumulation, foam-cell formation and atherosclerosis. Evidence suggests that nutritional antioxidants such as pomegranate juice (PJ) can contribute to the reduction of oxidative stress and atherogenesis.
Summary Dietary supplementation with polyphenolic antioxidants to animals was shown to be associated with inhibition of LDL oxidation and macrophage foam cell formation, and attenuation of atherosclerosis development. We investigated the effects of pomegranate juice (PJ, which contains potent tannins and anthocyanins) consumption by atherosclerotic patients with carotid artery stenosis (CAS) on the progression of carotid lesions and changes in oxidative stress and blood pressure.
Background: Dietary supplementation with nutrients rich in antioxidants is associated with inhibition of atherogenic modifications to LDL, macrophage foam cell formation, and atherosclerosis. Pomegranates are a source of polyphenols and other antioxidants. Objective: We analyzed, in healthy male volunteers and in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E–deficient (E0) mice, the effect of pomegranate juice consumption on lipoprotein oxidation, aggregation, and retention; macrophage atherogenicity; platelet aggregation; and atherosclerosis.
Conclusions:We report the first clinical trial of pomegranate juice in patients with prostate cancer. The statistically significant prolongation of PSA doubling time, coupled with corresponding laboratory effects on prostate cancer in vitro cell proliferation and apoptosis as well as oxidative stress, warrant further testing in a placebo-controlled study. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is currently the most common malignancy in men in the United States comprising 29% of all cancers. This year an estimated 232,090 men will be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer (1). There has been a trend toward improved survival in prostate cancer over the past several years. Prostate cancer 5-year survival.
All the pomegranate tree parts contain polyphenols and possess antioxidant activities. The tannins from bark and stem were most potent.
All the pomegranate fruit parts contain polyphenols and possess antioxidant activity. The fruit membrane anthocyanins and tannins were the most potent fruit antioxidants.
Pomegranate juice contains the highest concentration of total polyphenols, in comparison to other fruit juices studied. The pomegranate juice polyphenols were found to be the most powerful antioxidants.
Diabetes is associated with increased oxidative stress and atherosclerosis development. In the present study, we investigated the effects of pomegranate juice (PJ; which contains sugars and potent anti-oxidants) consumption by diabetic patients on blood diabetic parameters, and on oxidative stress in their serum and macrophages. T
Pomegranate extracts treat diseases of inflammation
Emerging research continues to strengthen the evidence that pomegranate extracts can be used to treat chronic inflammation, and the diseases that go along with it.
Short-term inflammation is a normal immune response, but chronic inflammation has been linked to a number of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia and autoimmune disorders. Scientists are increasingly coming to believe that pomegranate helps combat inflammation, in part due to its exceptionally high content of antioxidants, particularly those in the ellagitannin family, such as punicalagins and punicalins.
Afghanistan looks to squeeze new markets from pomegranates
Clogged with overloaded trucks, construction firm yards, hardware shops and police checkpoints, the Jalalabad Road on the outskirts of Kabul is an unlikely place for an agricultural revolution.
Pomegranate Fruit Extracts Slows Cartilage Deterioration in Osteoarthritis A study published in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition suggests that extracts from pomegranate fruit may slow cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis. According to researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Cleveland, Ohio), the study examined the effect of pomegranate fruit extract on Interleukin - 1b, a pro-inflammatory protein molecule that plays a role in cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis. The Interleukin protein molecules create an excessive production of inflammatory molecules including matrix metalloproteases (MMP). When excessive levels of MMP are produced in a disease state, such as osteoarthritis, they degrade the cartilage which results in joint damage and destruction. Results of the study indicate that pomegranate fruit extracts inhibit the overproduction of MMP enzymes in human cartilage cells. An abstract of the article in the Journal of Nutrition (Volume 135:2096-2102)
Pomegranate appears to be more than just a load of vitamin C. A new research comes to strengthen the results of other studies, showing that men wanting to make their partners happy in between the sheets should drink pomegranate juice on a daily basis.
"The juice is rich in antioxidants that increase the blood supply to the genitals." said lead author Dr Christopher Forest, University of California.
Support Heart Health with Pomegranate Juice With big health benefits and a delicious sweet and tart flavor, pomegranate juice could be your body’s new best friend. This wonderful juice is squeezed from the fruit of a ruby red pomegranate. Interest in pomegranates stems from the high concentration of antioxidants that accompanies the sweetness of its juice. Pomegranate juice has been in more clinical trials in than any fruit juice. These studies have shown that daily consumption of pomegranate juice, about 8 ounces a day for 3 months or more may help:
