Pomegranate is tested for weight loss, diabetes, COPD, prostate cancer, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Case of POM Wonderful (Pomegranate Juice Company) v. Federal Trade Commission made It went all the way to the US Court of Appeals before the Supreme Court denied review. In that landmark case, a panel of judges concluded that many of POM’s advertisements made false or misleading claims and that the company had “promoted medical studies showing that daily consumption of its products can treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of various diseases, including heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction.” The US First Amendment does not protect misleading and deceptive advertising. strike Court blow to its billionaire owners Government At least one randomized clinical trial would be needed to validate claims for treating or preventing disease.
If you look at the medical literature on pomegranate in general, you will find Look Reviews tout its many benefits, including the picture below on the medicinal effects of pomegranate (which you can also see at 1:01 in my video). Pomegranate: A Natural Remedy for Rheumatoid Arthritis).
But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see that it’s based On studies that talk about “anti-obesity effects of pomegranate leaf extract in a rat model”. Who eats pomegranate leaves first? And second, who is the rat?
Can pomegranate be consumed? want Weight in humans? If you look at all the randomized controlled clinical trials (i.e. human trials), pomegranate has no significant effect on body weight, BMI, belly fat, or even body fat percentage when randomized to consume pomegranate products. What about prevention and treatment of heart disease? researcher review of 25 Clinical trials, looking at cholesterol, blood pressure, artery function, atherosclerotic plaque formation, and platelet function, did not find significant signs of benefit, even in the best studies.
Pom Wonderful helped fund A study on pomegranate juice and erectile dysfunction, but also failed. further studies found No benefit for diabetes markers and saw No benefit for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as emphysema. They were relying on the antioxidant activity of pomegranate juice to help, but this is antioxidant activity in vitro (ie in a test tube or petri dish). To my surprise, data from 11 randomized controlled trials were not meta-analyzed Help There is strong evidence that pomegranate consumption has a significant effect on increasing the total antioxidant capacity in the bloodstream as some of the most powerful antioxidants do not seem to do. absorbed In human body. No wonder pomegranate wasn’t supplemented want Oxidative stress in tissue samples taken from prostate cancer patients. But, of course, we care about whether it affects cancer.
It is said that the strongest evidence of anti-carcinogenic activity of pomegranate is come From studies on prostate cancer. Unfortunately, the initial results were not promising. confirmed When they were actually tested. For example, daily pomegranate intake was found One randomized controlled trial had no effect on PSA levels, a marker of tumor progression. Additionally, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial found There is essentially no difference when it comes to prostate cancer disease progression, as you can see below and at 3:19 in my Video.
he was banking On the anti-inflammatory activity of pomegranate juice to help, but again, this was demonstrated in vitro. In people, a meta-analysis based on five randomized controlled trials published concluded in 2016 that pomegranate juice had no significant effect on levels of C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation. However, if you look at the forest plot, you will see that all five tests are trending toward lower C-reactive protein levels, such that the combined data almost reached statistical significance, as you can see below and at 3:53 in my Video.
Indeed, an updated meta-analysis published The threshold for statistical significance was crossed based on seven studies in 2020 and significant declines were also seen in two other inflammation markers.
maybe pomegranate juice Help Finally under control of inflammatory diseases. But you won’t know until you test it.
osteoarthritis Involved Degeneration of the cushioning cartilage within the joints, especially the knees. dripping Pomegranate extract shows cartilage-protective effects on human osteoarthritic cartilage samples. As you can see in my video below and at 4:43, compared to baseline levels of cartilage breakdown, Add Swelling triples the damage. However, as the amount of pomegranate extract increases, the breakage begins to calm down.
But then again, he’s in a petri dish. How do we know that when we eat pomegranates, the active components actually get into our bloodstream so that they can find their way into our joints? Cartilage protecting components were found being bioavailable (at least in rabbits), lift up The possibility is that pomegranate may be a safe and non-toxic treatment with no side effects, unlike drugs currently in use. But is it effective?
The first clinical trial on pomegranate juice and osteoarthritis was not a placebo-controlled trial, but instead random People don’t have pomegranate juice or anything. Juice drinkers reported less stiffness and loss in physical function, but not better than doing nothing. Shoot.
Just as I was about to give up eating the pomegranate, I saw A study titled “Consumption of hydrolyzable tannin-rich pomegranate extract suppresses inflammation and joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis.” But it turned out that POM, from a “not-so-wonderful” company, induced joint damage in a rat as a model of rheumatoid arthritis. come on!
There Was An open-label study, where patients knew what they were getting. Eight people with active rheumatoid arthritis took pomegranate extract every day, and the six who continued taking it had less joint tenderness. But as we learned from the osteoarthritis study, if you don’t have a control group, you have no sense of what role the treatment actually plays.
last we come For this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. It’s about time! Half of the study participants inadvertently received some pomegranate extract; The other half inadvertently received the equivalent of a sugar pill. There were significant improvements in the number of swollen joints, tender joints, pain intensity, disease activity score, health assessment questionnaire, and morning stiffness compared to placebo. So, if you have rheumatoid arthritis, I would really recommend you to start eating pomegranate. Why not just pomegranate pills? After all, it was the pomegranate extract that reduced disease activity. A good reason to stick to the fruit is that when 19 Pomegranate Supplements tests In the laboratory, most did not actually contain pomegranate at all! only 6 out of 19 appeared To be authentic.
doctor’s note
I previously reported on POM Wonderful in my video in 2011 Is pomegranate juice so amazing?. This is my second video on this fruit Flashback Friday: Pomegranate vs. placebo for prostate cancer.
In what ways can you eat them? Watch my cooking video for this Cran-Chocolate Pomegranate Brawl Bowl.
