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" Cancer Decisions "

THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (02/14/04)

 

 

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Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

Newsletter #120 02/14/04

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THE MOSS REPORTS

 

 

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PURSUING POMEGRANATES

 

 

Andy Warhol predicted that in the future everyone would

be famous for 15 minutes. Perhaps, by the same token,

every exotic fruit or vegetable will also get its

quarter-hour in the sun. That time has clearly arrived

for the pomegranate. Recent articles in such otherwise

staid publications as Lancet Oncology and the Journal

of the National Cancer Institute have asked whether

pomegranates could be " nature's power fruit. "

 

 

Pomegranates have a tough reddish rind and an interior

containing many seeds, each enclosed in a juicy, mildly

acidic red pulp. They are among the oldest and most

fascinating of cultivated plants. A small deciduous

bush or tree of the myrtle family, the pomegranate is

native to northwestern India but is now widely

cultivated for its edible fruit in many parts of the

world (Fetrow 1999).

 

 

In the last year or so, a California company, Pom

Wonderful, has been busily promoting a new line of

pomegranate juice blends. Time magazine has enthused

over it and new pomegranate-based cocktails have been

created. Suddenly this once obscure fruit, which was

generally found lurking modestly at the edge of the

banana display, is showing up everywhere. I knew the

pomegranate had 'arrived' when my local supermarket,

never known for left coast trendiness, suddenly greeted

me with a large promotional display featuring

pomegranate juice. So part of the craze can be ascribed

to skilful product placement.

 

 

Another source of renewed interest comes, oddly enough,

from some religious groups. That is because, in the

Bible, God specifically singled out the pomegranate as

one of the delights awaiting the Hebrew nation when it

reached the promised land (Deut. 8:8). In another

Biblical passage, the Israelites, wandering around the

desolate Zin Desert, complain that in Egypt at least

they had " grain and figs and grapevines and

pomegranates " (Numbers 20:5; see also Numbers 13:23 and

Joel 1:12) - an early version of the four food groups.

Some literal-minded religious groups aspire to emulate

the ancient Jews in every respect. As a result of such

references, they have rediscovered the pomegranate and

embraced it as a " delicious and healthy Bible juice "

(Foods of the Bible, 2004).

 

 

Some scholars have suggested that in the Book of

Genesis it was the pomegranate, not the apple, with

which Eve tempted Adam, leading to the expulsion of the

pair from the Garden of Eden. Along with citrus and

peaches, the pomegranate is also one of the three

blessed fruits of Buddhism. In Greek mythology, the

goddess Persephone was sentenced to spend half the year

in the underworld just for consuming six pomegranate

seeds - a backhanded compliment to the fruit's allure

(McLaughlin 2003).

 

 

The name " pomegranate " comes from botanical Latin,

Pomum granatum, meaning " grained apple. " The " grains "

in question are not grasses but the tightly-packed

juicy seeds of the plant. The Romans themselves called

pomegranate " Punicum malum, " or the Carthaginian apple.

(Punic was another term for Carthaginian.) This was

because they received their own ample supply via the

North African city of Carthage. There are also

depictions of pomegranate trees in the House of the

Faun in Pompeii (Melillo 1994). Pomegranates figure

prominently in other religious and even magical

ceremonies. In alchemy, pomegranates, like other red

substances, were considered akin to blood, and

therefore helpful in promoting longevity (Mahdihassan

1984). With a nod towards the fruit's mythological

reputation, Pom Wonderful has been promoting

pomegranates as a means of helping you cheat death. One

advertisement states, " It's been around for 5,000

years. Drink it and you might be too " (McLaughlin

2003).

 

 

So is the pomegranate really something you need to add

to your diet? Or can you can safely forego it until,

let's say, feijoa, litchi nuts, and cherimoya edge it

aside for their own fifteen minutes of fame?

 

 

Actually, the pomegranate's health value is well

documented, but you have to have a taste for the fruit.

I happen to love pomegranates and have eaten them for

many years.

 

 

There is something about the one-two punch of pure

sweetness followed by the slightly acidic

tongue-tingling aftertaste that some of us find

appealing. But I know of other people who are put off

by this unusual combination. It was probably in an

effort to mask the bitter half of the pomegranate

equation that the marketers at Pom Wonderful

( " Wonderful " being itself a variety of the fruit) have

added other straight-up-sweet juices to the mix. I

picked up an artfully designed bottle of their

pomegranate-cherry mix at the food co-op. I enjoyed it

but also thought the cherry flavor dominated. Even when

I diluted it, the mixture was still too sweet for my

palate. I missed the puckering tang of the original.

 

 

You can, of course, purchase whole pomegranates when

they are in season in the fall. By chewing the seeds

you will release the dark red juice. However,

extracting edible material from a whole pomegranate in

this way can be embarrassing because of all the

spitting and slurping involved. It is perhaps something

best done in the privacy of one's own home. That is one

reason that sipping a pomegranate cocktail has become a

socially acceptable substitute for slobbering over a

peculiar red fruit in public.

 

 

 

What the Science Shows

 

 

Serious research on pomegranates has only been going on

for about four years, and is still in a preliminary

phase. Much of the research on pomegranates comes from

Israel, which, thousands of years after the Bible was

written, is still a major producer and exporter of the

fruit. In 1999 Israeli scientists began to analyze the

contents of various varieties and derivatives of the

pomegranate, including fresh and fermented juices and a

pressing of seeds. They found " strong antioxidant

activity " that was " significantly greater than that of

red wine, " a major dietary source of the

anthocyanin-type of antioxidant (Schubert 1999).

 

 

In another test, dried pomegranate seeds were found to

have " antiseptic and disinfectant properties " and

" potent antimicrobial activities " against test microbes

including Bacillus subtilis, and a form of E. coli (De

1999). This is reassuring in our era of alarming new

infections and confirms the sound basis of some of the

traditional uses of pomegranate in folk medicine,

where, for example, it was used as a treatment for

diarrhea (Fetrow 1999).

 

 

The breakthrough article came in 2000. Israeli

scientists, headed by Michael Aviram, DSc, gave

pomegranate juice to healthy male volunteers and also

to mice that were genetically predisposed to develop

heart disease. After just 14 weeks they found " potent

antioxidative effects of pomegranate juice " on the

oxidation of lipids and on isolated fractions of the

" good cholesterol " HDL and the " bad cholesterol " LDL,

in both humans and test rodents. In humans, pomegranate

juice consumption decreased " bad " LDL activity and

increased markers for the " good " HDL by a significant

20 percent. In the mice, the oxidation of LDL (which is

thought by some to be a major cause of heart disease)

" was reduced by up to 90 percent after pomegranate

juice consumption. " Finally, pomegranate juice reduced

the size of plaque (atherosclerotic lesions) in the

arteries of the mice by 44 percent. These are

impressive numbers. The same scientists concluded that

pomegranate juice had potent anti-heart-disease effects

in both healthy humans and in disease-prone mice " that

may be attributable to its antioxidative properties "

(Aviram 2000).

 

 

The following year, the same group showed that

consumption of 50 milliliters (a mere 1.7 ounces) per

day of pomegranate juice for just two weeks could lower

the systolic blood pressure of hypertensive patients by

5 percent. The authors concluded that " pomegranate

juice can offer a wide protection against

cardiovascular diseases which could be related to its

inhibitory effect on oxidative stress…. " (Aviram 2001).

 

 

Dr. Aviram has been kind enough to share with me a

preprint of a forthcoming article. It shows that after

one to three years of consuming the same amount of

promegranate juice, patients with preexisting

cardiovascular disease showed great improvement in many

important physiological measurements and pathological

signs, compared to a control group. These measurements

included carotid artery stenosis (CAS), common carotid

intima-media thickness (IMT), blood pressure and LDL

oxidation (Aviram 2004). The implications of this are

vast, since heart disease remains the number one killer

in many countries of the world.

 

 

California scientists have found that commercially

prepared juices contain more antioxidants than

preparations made purely from pressed seeds in the

laboratory. That is because the industrial processing

of pomegranates also extracts some of the bitter

tannins that are present in the fruit's rind. In other

words, some of the benefit of the pomegranate is

associated with the very compounds that cause its

slight bitterness. Commercially produced pomegranate

juice contains tannins as well as other compounds,

derivatives of anthocyanins and ellagic acid, all of

which are associated with antioxidant activity.

Scientists in Prof. Lester Packer's laboratory at the

University of California, Berkeley, have independently

confirmed that pomegranate juice contains at least

three major antioxidants (Noda 2002).

 

 

Antioxidant activity is frequently measured through the

Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) test.

Pomegranate juice has been found to have a TEAC score

of 18 to 20, which is an astonishing three times higher

than that of red wine or green tea (Gil 2001).

 

 

 

Pomegranates Vs. Cancer

 

 

In recent years, scientists have also turned their

attention to the relationship between pomegranates and

another killer disease, cancer. It has been shown in

experimental animals that pomegranate seed oil can

prevent the formation of skin cancers by significantly

decreasing tumor incidence and the number of lesions.

" Overall, " these South Dakota scientists wrote, " the

results highlight the potential of pomegranate seed oil

as a safe and effective chemopreventive agent against

skin cancer " (Hora 2003).

 

 

Korean scientists have shown that antioxidants from

fermented pomegranate juice caused a 47 percent

inhibition of cancer formation in mice. They concluded

that " clinical trials to further assess chemopreventive

and adjuvant therapeutic applications of pomegranate in

human breast cancer may be warranted " (Kim 2002).

 

 

 

Potential Dangers?

 

 

How safe is pomegranate? There are sometimes allergic

reactions to the juice, but these very rare. The rind

does contain a high concentration of tannins and these

theoretically could be toxic to the liver. Some dried

rinds have also been found to contain a carcinogenic

substance, aflatoxin B-1 (Selim 1996). Anyone concerned

about these issues should avoid eating rinds,

especially dried rinds, which are sometimes imported

for medicinal purposes.

 

 

There is also an odd association of pomegranate with

esophageal cancer, a disease that is prevalent in

northern Iran. Pregnant women in that area consume a

local food called " majum " or " majoweh, " which contains

a mixture of sour pomegranate seeds, black pepper,

dried raisins and garlic. There is some suspicion that

" majum " is responsible for the increased esophageal

cancer rate in that area. Rather than being chemically

carcinogenic, however, it appears that, if anything,

this harsh and scratchy mixture causes physical trauma

to the esophagus, which then predisposes these

individuals to cancer (Fetrow 1999).

 

 

In general, though, commercial pomegranate juice seems

very safe. However, one distressing feature of these

and other commercial fruits and juices is the danger

posed by pesticide residues. In California, over 82,000

pounds of pesticide were sprayed on 57,000 acres of

pomegranate trees in 2001 alone, according to the

Pesticide Action Network (PAN). At PAN's website there

is a detailed breakdown of such pesticide use including

information concerning those sprays that are suspected

of causing cancer (PAN 2003).

 

 

My own suggestion is to buy and drink organic

pomegranate juice. It is not cheap and you may be

surprised to pay over $7.00 for a 32-ounce bottle of

juice. But since patients in Dr. Aviram's study

consumed less than two ounces per day to attain major

health benefits, the daily cost is actually around 50

cents.

 

 

My top choice is Lakewood or some other reputable

producer of organic juices.

 

For those who don't like the taste of pomegranates, or

prefer to get their antioxidants in a supplement

capsule, Solaray offers standardized extracts of the

fruit,

 

My book, Antioxidants Against Cancer, contains a full

discussion of why and how foods containing antioxidants

can be useful in the fight against cancer, heart

disease and other illnesses. (It also has the most

complete discussion I know of concerning the

interaction of antioxidants and

chemotherapy/radiation.) You can buy it by clicking or

going to:

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1881025284/cancerdecisio-20/103-4018872-4\

386244

 

 

 

--Ralph W. Moss, PhD

 

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References:

 

 

Aviram M, Dornfeld L, Rosenblat M, et al. Pomegranate juice

consumption reduces oxidative stress, atherogenic

modifications to LDL, and platelet aggregation: studies in

humans and in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E-deficient

mice. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 May;71(5):1062-76.

 

Aviram M, Dornfeld L. Pomegranate juice consumption inhibits

serum angiotensin converting enzyme activity and reduces

systolic blood pressure. Atherosclerosis. 2001

Sep;158(1):195-8.

 

Aviram M, Rosenbalt M, Gaitini D, et al. Pomegranate juice

consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery

stenosis (CAS) reduces common carotid intima-media thickness

(IMT), blood pressure and LDL oxidation. Clinical Nutrition

(2004, in press).

 

Fetrow CW and Avila JR. Professional's Handbook of

Complementary & Alternative Medicines. Springhouse, PA:

Springhouse Corp., 1999, pp. 518-520.

 

Foods of the Bible. Retrieved February 8, 2004 from

http://www.logia.net/products/pomegranate_juice.html

 

Gil MI, Tomas-Barberan FA, Hess-Pierce B, Holcroft DM, Kader

AA. Antioxidant activity of pomegranate juice and its

relationship with phenolic composition and processing. J

Agric Food Chem. 2000 Oct;48(10):4581-9.

 

Hora JJ, Maydew ER, Lansky EP, Dwivedi C. Chemopreventive

effects of pomegranate seed oil on skin tumor development in

CD1 mice. J Med Food. 2003 Fall;6(3):157-61.

 

Kim ND, Mehta R, Yu W, et al.Chemopreventive and adjuvant

therapeutic potential of pomegranate (Punica granatum) for

human breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2002

Feb;71(3):203-17.

 

Mahdihassan S. Outline of the beginnings of alchemy and its

antecedents. Am J Chin Med. 1984 Summer;12(1-4):32-42.

 

McLaughlin, Lisa. Pomegranate Power. Time, December 1, 2003.

Retrieved February 9, 2004 from http://www.pomwonderful.com/

 

Melillo L. Diuretic plants in the paintings of Pompeii. Am J

Nephrol. 1994;14(4-6):423-5.

 

Noda Y, Kaneyuki T, Mori A, Packer L. Antioxidant activities

of pomegranate fruit extract and its anthocyanidins: delphinidin,

cyanidin, and pelargonidin. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Jan

2;50(1):166-71.

 

Pesticide Action Network report on pomegranates. Retrieved

February 8, 2004 from

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/DS.jsp?sk=6015#TopChems

 

Schubert SY, Lansky EP, Neeman I. Antioxidant and eicosanoid

enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate seed oil and

fermented juice flavonoids. J Ethnopharmacol. 1999

Jul;66(1):11-7.

 

Selim MI. Aflatoxin B-1 in common Egyptian foods. J AOAC Int

1996;79:1124-1129.

 

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