The Power Of The Pomegranate

November 28, 2007

pomegranates.jpgPomegranates are now in season.  And they are delicious.  But more importantly, they are healthy!  

The pomegranate is a superfood which should be consumed daily (unless your doctor tells you otherwise).   It is a pinkish-red round fruit with hundreds of seeds in a juicy pulp.  It is rich in antioxidants which protects against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and Alzheimer’s.  Plus, the antioxidants in the pomegranate help protect the skin and the body from free radical damage (cell aging).  The level of antioxidants in a pomegranate is much higher than that found in other fruits, even blueberries. 

How to eat a pomegranate.

Eating the seeds of the pomegranate is like taking anti-cancer medicine.  Fresh and straight from the rind is a very beneficial way to eat pomegranate.   However, it can be quite messy if you don’t know how to eat it.  The best way to eat one is to first cut off the crown and then cut into the rind.  Separate the seeds in a bowl of warm water so as not to splatter the red juice everywhere (although I hate to wash away the extra juice).  Strain and eat!

You can opt to buy already prepared juice instead.  Another great way to consume it.  Unfortunately, though, just because a product says “100% Pomegranate Juice” on the front label does not mean you are getting a good dose of the juice.  Some companies are experts at deceptive advertising so as to convince us to buy what we believe to be a quality product and to save themselves money.   So read the label before buying the juice. 

What to look for on juice labels.

Common wording to look for include:

  • “Cocktail” or “Blend” … means the juice has been blended with cheap filler juices, such as apple, pear, or grape juice.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with apple, pear, or grape juice if that is what you want.  But a company calling their product Pomegranate Juice and then having a cheaper and less healthy juice such as apple juice as their main ingredient is quite misleading.  Blueberry, however, is another high-antioxidant superfood and is a good blend with promegranate.
  • “100% Pure Juice” … this is true in some cases; however, often times the main ingredients are water, sugar, or high fructose corn syrup.  With these ingredients, how can it be considered pure juice?
  • Concentrate … means it is not freshly squeezed and it contains chemical preservatives such as sodium benzoate, juice fillers, water, and malic or citric acid (an added flavor to hide the fact that the product is watered down). as many companies find it too difficult and expensive to make juice freshly squeezed.  And while concentrate contains fewer nutrients than freshly squeezed, it can still be a very good product.  However, if it is made without the sodium benzoate … that would be a big plus!

Brands I trust and recommend:

  • Purely Pomegranate - my preference and which I drink daily
  • POM Wonderful - a very trusted and popular brand
  • R.W. Knudsen Just Pomegranate Juice  - but not their “Blueberry and Pomegranate” where the primary ingredients are water and apple juice

Another little good-to-know tidbit about pomegranate juice … most of the phytonutrients are found in the rind.  Pomegranate juice squeezed by machine is healthier than juice squeezed only from the seeds.  The taste will be more bitter, but the bitterness means more phytonutrients. 

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Posted by Julie Alexander | Filed Under Blog, Superfoods 

Comments

2 Responses to “The Power Of The Pomegranate”

  1. Alfa King on December 4th, 2007 10:57 pm

    Thanks for enlightening your readers. We do have a pomegranate tree at home; it’s in flowers at the moment. We do like eating it, very juicy and tasty. But we didn’t know (or perhaps we couldn’t imagine or we didn’t bother to find out) about its benefits to the human health.
    I’ll see to it that every seed is swallowed.

  2. Julie Alexander on December 5th, 2007 9:28 am

    Thanks, Alfa King. You are lucky to have a pomegranate tree. I am jealous. Not only because of the health benefits, but also because it is just nice to have during the holidays. I see more and more people decorating with fake pomegranates these days. You are lucky to have the real thing. And eating it right off your own tree … you can’t get it any fresher than that.

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