Pomegranate juice...is there anything it doesn't do?

Fellas,
So I was looking into pomegranate juice and it's benifits because I have nothing better to do with my time, and it seems that this shit is practically a cure for everything.

Of course I'm skeptical, but the research seems to be fairly convincing. Hyperlipidemia, Hypertension, shit...even breast and prostate cancer...holy shit...the list is endless.

I just might have to buy a bottle or two and deal with the awful, dry, acidic taste.

Concentrated pomegranate juice improves lipid profiles in diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia.

Esmaillzadeh A, Tahbaz F, Gaieni I, Alavi-Majd H, Azadbakht L.

Department of Nutrition, Endocrine Research Center, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. [email protected]

This study assessed the effect of concentrated pomegranate juice (CPJ) consumption on lipid profiles of type II diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia (cholesterol >/= 5.2 mmol/L or triacylglycerol >/= 2.3 mmol/L). In this quasi-experimental study 22 otherwise healthy diabetic patients, 14 women (63.6%) and eight men (36.4%), were recruited from among patients referred to the Iranian Diabetes Society. The patients were followed for 8 weeks to establish a baseline for normal dietary intake before beginning the CPJ intervention. During the pre-study period a 24-hour food recall and food records (recording flavonoid-rich foods) were completed every 10 days. At the end of the eighth week, anthropometric and biochemical assessments were done. Thereafter the patients consumed 40 g/day of CPJ for 8 weeks, during which time dietary assessment was continued. After completing the study, anthropometric and blood indices were again evaluated. The Wilcoxon signed test was used for statistical analysis. A value of P <.05 was considered significant. Mean (+/-SD) age, weight, and duration of diabetes were 52.5 +/- 5.2 years, 71.5 +/- 10.3 kg, and 7.9 +/- 6.6 years, respectively. After consumption of CPJ, significant reductions were seen in total cholesterol (P <.006), low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (P <.006), LDL-cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (P <.001), and total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol (P <.001). But, there were no significant changes in serum triacylglycerol and HDL-cholesterol concentrations. Anthropometric indices, physical activity, kind and doses of oral hypoglycemic agents, and the intakes of nutrients and flavonoid-rich foods showed no change during the CPJ consumption period. It is concluded that CPJ consumption may modify heart disease risk factors in hyperlipidemic patients, and its inclusion therefore in their diets may be beneficial.

Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation.

Aviram M, Rosenblat M, Gaitini D, Nitecki S, Hoffman A, Dornfeld L, Volkova N, Presser D, Attias J, Liker H, Hayek T.

The Lipid Research Laboratory, Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa 31096, Israel. [email protected]

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. Ten patients were supplemented with PJ for 1 year and five of them continued for up to 3 years. Blood samples were collected before treatment and during PJ consumption. In the control group that did not consume PJ, common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) increased by 9% during 1 year, whereas, PJ consumption resulted in a significant IMT reduction, by up to 30%, after 1 year. The patients' serum paraoxonase 1 (PON 1) activity was increased by 83%, whereas serum LDL basal oxidative state and LDL susceptibility to copper ion-induced oxidation were both significantly reduced, by 90% and 59%, respectively, after 12 months of PJ consumption, compared to values obtained before PJ consumption. Furthermore, serum levels of antibodies against oxidized LDL were decreased by 19%, and in parallel serum total antioxidant status (TAS) was increased by 130% after 1 year of PJ consumption. Systolic blood pressure was reduced after 1 year of PJ consumption by 21% and was not further reduced along 3 years of PJ consumption. For all studied parameters, the maximal effects were observed after 1 year of PJ consumption. Further consumption of PJ, for up to 3 years, had no additional beneficial effects on IMT and serum PON1 activity, whereas serum lipid peroxidation was further reduced by up to 16% after 3 years of PJ consumption. The results of the present study thus suggest that PJ consumption by patients with CAS decreases carotid IMT and systolic blood pressure and these effects could be related to the potent antioxidant characteristics of PJ polyphenols.

Pomegranate extracts potently suppress proliferation, xenograft growth, and invasion of human prostate cancer cells.

Albrecht M, Jiang W, Kumi-Diaka J, Lansky EP, Gommersall LM, Patel A, Mansel RE, Neeman I, Geldof AA, Campbell MJ.

Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany.

We completed a multicenter study of the effects of pomegranate cold-pressed (Oil) or supercritical CO(2)-extracted (S) seed oil, fermented juice polyphenols (W), and pericarp polyphenols (P) on human prostate cancer cell xenograft growth in vivo, and/or proliferation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, gene expression, and invasion across Matrigel, in vitro. Oil, W, and P each acutely inhibited in vitro proliferation of LNCaP, PC-3, and DU 145 human cancer cell lines. The dose of P required to inhibit cell proliferation of the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP by 50% (ED(50)) was 70 microg/mL, whereas normal prostate epithelial cells (hPrEC) were significantly less affected (ED(50) = 250 g/mL). These effects were mediated by changes in both cell cycle distribution and induction of apoptosis. For example, the androgen-independent cell line DU 145 showed a significant increase from 11% to 22% in G(2)/M cells (P <.05) by treatment with Oil (35 microg/mL) with a modest induction of apoptosis. In other cell lines/treatments, the apoptotic response predominated, for example, in PC-3 cells treated with P, at least partially through a caspase 3-mediated pathway. These cellular effects coincided with rapid changes in mRNA levels of gene targets. Thus, 4-hour treatment of DU 145 cells with Oil (35 microg/mL) resulted in significant 2.3 +/- 0.001-fold (mean +/- SEM) up-regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21((waf1/cip1)) (P <.01) and 0.6 +/- 0.14-fold down-regulation of c-myc (P <.05). In parallel, all agents potently suppressed PC-3 invasion through Matrigel, and furthermore P and S demonstrated potent inhibition of PC-3 xenograft growth in athymic mice. Overall, this study demonstrates significant antitumor activity of pomegranate-derived materials against human prostate cancer.

Breast cancer chemopreventive properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit extracts in a mouse mammary organ culture.

Mehta R, Lansky EP.

Department of Surgical Oncology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

We previously reported anticancer effects of pomegranate extracts in human breast cancer cells in vitro and also chemopreventive activity of pomegranate fermented juice polyphenols (W) in a mouse mammary organ culture (MMOC). In the present study we decided to expand the MMOC investigations to also include an evaluation of the potential chemopreventive efficacy of a purified chromatographic peak of W (Peak B), and also of whole pomegranate seed oil. In brief, an MMOC was established according to a known method. For the first 10 days of culture, the glands were treated with pomegranate fermented juice polyphenols (W), a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) peak separated from W (peak B), or pomegranate seed oil (Oil, and on day 3, exposed to the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), and for 10 days treated with the putative pomegranate chemopreventive. The glands were subsequently harvested and tumours counted by visual inspection. While W effected a 42% reduction in the number of lesions compared with control, peak B and pomegranate seed oil each effected an 87% reduction. The results highlight enhanced breast cancer preventive potential both for the purified compound peak B and for pomegranate seed oil, both greater than that previously reported for pomegranate fermented juice polyphenols.