The Benefits of Pomegranates

Posted by Debbie Kwiatoski May 25, 2007

Milton Schiffenbauer, PhD., a biologist at Pace University in New York State, has just released an interesting paper on the powerful effect that pomegranate juice has on viruses (including E.Coli) and bacteria, like Staphylococcus aureus . His research - which was presented in a paper entitled "The Inactivation of Virus and Destruction of Bacteria by Pomegranate Juice" - caused a bit of a stir at the May meeting of the American Society for Microbiology on Toronto, Canada.

Schiffenbauer explained how adding full strength pomegranate juice to various samples of viruses and bacteria destroyed them within about 10 minutes. It was literally up to 100% effective. Besides the E.coli B and the S. aureus (the cause of many staph infections), the juice was found to destroy bacteria S. mutans (cavity causing bacteria), and B. cereus (a common cause of food poisoning).

Now, the study was funded, in part, by POM Wonderful pomegranate products, in conjunction with the university itself, but the results are still incredibly interesting. When Schiffenbauer added the 100% juice extract to toothpaste and mouthwash, for example, the juiced-up product had an incredibly anti-microbial effect on the mouth. In fact, the pomegranate juice got better results than his earlier studies did, when he added green and white tea extracts to similar products.

Whether or not these studies stand the test of time and serious scientific scrutiny, it makes me feel even better about eating pomegranates. Having the little red jewels kicking around in my intestines, as they digest, and - just maybe - keeping themselves busy with a little general "housekeeping" is a really good feeling.

Pomegranates, horticultural historians say, originated in Armenia, along with apricots and cherries, and are so embedded in the culture and foodways that they are one of our oldest cultural symbols. Not a small amount of ancient jewelry and bits of architectural detail - not to mention textiles - found in the region sport pomegranates in their design details. Anyone who has read William Saroyan's classic novel, My Name is Aram, might also remember Uncle Melik - the Armenian emigre who buys a piece of California desert in order to plant pomegranate trees - only to find it a hopeless endeavor. But, with each tree, he is replanting a little bit of his homeland. When you think about it, it's kind of interesting that POM Wonderful, Inc. finally succeeded in growing pomegranates in California, where "Uncle Melik" had tried so valiantly - and failed.

In our family, pomegranates were a Christmas - or at least wintertime - treat. That was the only time they were actually available in Upstate New York supermarkets where, presumably, a fresh (or semi-fresh_ crop finally arrived from the Middle East. They were a special favorite of my grandfather, who used to make a real production of slicing the red skin into sections and peeling it away, exposing the bitter white flesh beneath. With careful fingers, he would then take each section and extract the small red bits of fruit.

Faceted and deeply red, he would jokingly call them his "little red jewels" - as we ate them nearly as quickly as they could be peeled from their flesh.

We didn't know that we were eating one of nature's "super foods." We only knew that they tasted like no other fruit we'd ever had - and that. all too soon, they would disappear from the store, until next year.