Pomegranate Juice Health Benefits May Slow Prostate CancerNot All Pomegranate Juice Is Created Equal! 
Pomegranate juice made from pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight meters tall. The pomegranate is native to the Middle East, and has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, North India, the drier parts of southeast Asia, peninsular Malaysia, the East Indies, the Mediterranean and Southern Europe and tropical Africa.Introduced into Latin America and California by Spanish settlers in 1769, pomegranate is now cultivated in parts of California and Arizona for juice production.In the Northern Hemisphere, the fruit is typically in season from September to February. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is in season from March to May.An ancient fruit, pomegranate is mentioned in Europe as early as the Iron-Age Greek Mythology in the Homeric hymns. Yet, it has still to reach mainstream prominence as a consumer fruit in commercial markets of North America and the Western Hemisphere. Previous studies in atherosclerotic mice have shown that pomegranate supplementation reduced their macrophage oxidative stress and attenuated the development of their atherosclerosis. Further research in hypertensive humans demonstrated that pomegranate juice had an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory effect and significantly decreased systolic blood pressure. Pomegranate juice has a long history of use in folk medicine. There is vast data on the health benefits of pomegranate fruit and juice. Multiple studies have established the strong antioxidative effects of pomegranate polyphenols (primarily the ellagitannin punicalagin) and their health effects. A vast number of animal and human clinical studies have provided evidence of effects of pomegranate juice such as: 1. Improving blood lipid profile Other research shows the protective effect of a pomegranate concentrate (POM Flu and Cold FormulaŽ) in decreasing the incidence and duration of influenza-like illnesses and common cold among healthy adults. Check out this study. Drinking Pomegranate Juice May Delay Progression of Prostate Cancer That Hasn't Spread Drinking 8 ounces of juice daily may slow the progression of localized prostate cancer ( prostate cancer that hasn't spread), a new study shows. The study included 48 men who had surgery or radiation therapy to treat localized prostate cancer.
The results were presented at the American Urological Association's 104th annual scientific meeting in Chicago. Five of the six researchers who conducted the study disclose ties to POM Wonderful, which makes the pomegranate juice used in the study. In 2007, another team of researchers bought pomegranates, made their own juice, and tested it against human prostate cancer cells grafted into mice. Those tumors grew slower than other tumors treated with a placebo solution. Pomegranate Juice Interacts With Medications
But a report published in the September 1 2006 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology suggests that we don't know enough about how pomegranate interacts with commonmedications. A 48-year-old man was taking ezetimibe (trade name Zetia) 10 mg a day and rosuvastatin (trade name Crestor) 5 mg every other day for 17 months. Both medications are used to treat high cholesterol. He began drinking the juice (200 ml twice weekly) and three weeks later, was admitted to emergency with thigh pain and an elevated serum creatine kinase level (138,030 U/L, normal < 200 U/L). Both are symptoms of rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition that causes the breakdown of muscle fibers. This is more of a reason for me personally to get away from all medications if possible and try other alternative natural substances such as pomegranate juice to achieve my health goals.
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When the study started in 2003, the men's PSA levels were doubling every 15 months. In prostate cancer patients, PSA (prostate specific antigen) is used to monitor their cancer. All of the men drank 8 ounces of juice daily, and that slowed down the time it took for their PSA levels to double, as the researchers reported in 2006. After that, the researchers who included Stanford University urologist Allan Pantuck, MD kept following the patients every three months. Fifteen of the patients stayed with the study for up to 64 months (a little more than five years), and it typically took four times longer for their PSA levels to double when they were drinking juice, compared to their PSA doubling time at the study's start.
