Pomegranate juice may save your life according to a 3-year experiment published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study compared participants from a control group (no pomegranate juice) with those who consumed an ounce of pomegranate juice each day. The results were remarkable. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and blood pressure and cholesterol medications are among the most prescribed by medical doctors.
Not only did those who took pomegranate juice lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure, but it appears pomegranate juice did something that no cholesterol medication or blood pressure prescription even claims to: heal arteries. The carotid artery thickness was measured after one year and those who consumed pomegranate juice saw 30% improvement while those in the control group got worse by 9%. Blood pressure was reduced after one year of juice consumption by 12%. It’s worth noting that these improvements didn’t continue after the first year on pomegranate juice. The progress between years one and three leveled out. It’s unclear how quickly patients might regress if pomegranate juice is discontinued after a year. The study notes:
The results of the present study thus suggest that [pomegranate juice] 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.
Several studies have shown that pomegranates, long known for their antioxidant properties, may also have anti-cancer properties, especially against breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Sources: Aviram M, Rosenblat M, Gaitini D, Nitecki S, Hoffman A, Dornfeld L, Volkova N, Presser D, Attias J, Liker H, Hayek T. Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation. Clin Nutr. 2004 Jun;23(3):423-33. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2003.10.002. Erratum in: Clin Nutr. 2008 Aug;27(4):671. PMID: 15158307.; (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15158307/); https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16379557/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22945439/; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16818701/