So…funny story. I’m shopping in the produce aisle of Waldbaums the other day, and out of nowhere, this little old Middle Eastern man who worked there pulled me aside. He started whispering to me about how I should buy “POM”, the pomegranate juice that was there (www.PomWonderful.com , if you’re interested), how good it is for me, and how all the old men who come into the place say that they are alive because of the stuff. POM probably planted this little man to seduce us health conscious youngers into buying the stuff for $5 a bottle. :rolleyes: Anyway, it amused me so much that I bought the stuff, and currently have it in my fridge.
So, I’m curious…I see from their website and some other little research I just did that pomegranate juices are supposed to have tons of antioxidents and are supposed to be great at keeping you healthy. Does anyone have any actual knowledge or experience that can confirm, deny, or ellaborate? I’m sure opinions vary, but I’d be interested to know if anyone has any actual experience or applied knowledge on the subject.
I think that anything so intensely fruity must have lots of vitamins… too much of it upsets my stomach, though. The bottle looks like little spheres stacked on top of each other, right? Drink half a sphere at a go.
But then again, I also like blueberry juice, and pure unadulterted knudsen brand straight cranberry juice[you have to dillute it in water on ice and sweeten it to make it drinkable=) but this way I can use splenda instead of corn syrup/sugar and apple juice=)]
I dont know, I was raised not drinking soda, but different juices, so my default drinks will be still drinks - iced tea, juices, plain water. MOst of the time, I just drink straight iced water=)
It is being hyped for its antioxidant properties. I know it gets a lot of press in the beauty world for being rich in antioxidants. I know last summer I was reading a book about acne* and it recommended it by brand, but I did not see it at the grocery store. Then last month it was everywhere at my grocery store. It even has its own cooler. To be honest, it might have a lot of antioxidants but so do most things with vitamins and I would need to know how much per glass. The bottle holds about 2 servings. So compared to a glass of orange juice or grape juice what’s the concentration? I don’t care enough to find out.
*That acne book is not related to all the other acne books I keep talking about on this board today. I do read other things. I don’t know why it keeps coming up. :o
CW these days seems to be: the darker the fruit or vegetable, the healthier it is for you. I buy it regularly, but damned if I can drink it straight[it is QUITE tart] Diluted with 5 parts of water makes it palatable, no sweetening necessary. It also makes a fine addition to a glass of OJ, kinda like a virgin Tequila Sunrise.
I haven’t drank straight POM juice… I prefer the blends. Pom/tangerine is the best, with pom/cherry and pom/blueberry duking it out for second place. Added bonus… it looks like blood when served in crystal.
I can’t claim specific knowledge, but as for general advice, every few months there’s a new claim about a particular fruit or vegetable containing heretofore unknown antioxidants. In actuality, most every fruit or vegetable is high in antioxidants or other healthful phytochemicals, and it’s not worth following the trend-of-the-month, especially one so expensive. Remember lycopene in tomatoes? Anthrocyanins in blueberries? And back in the day, when beta-carotene was the it-nutrient? Most fruits and vegetables contain useful chemicals, but none of them is the key to everlasting youth or anything else - eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.
And don’t drink too much fruit juice. You lose a lot of nutrients in the juicing process, especially fiber, which most people don’t eat enough of. And it’s extremely sugary; many juices are easily comparable to soda - when you eat fruit in its natural state, it’s harder to overindulge and get a huge dose of sugar.
This is probably baseless, but I just thought I’d mention it anyway. Pomegranate does affect estrogen levels in the body. It has a history of being used as a contraceptive, and is currently being researched by several pharmaceutical companies as a possible source of chemicals for contraceptive use.
What does this mean? Probably nothing. It’s most likely that the rind, as well as the juice, is needed for any real effect. But I don’t know how the POM people extract their juice (ie. do they seed it and then ream it or process it rind and all?), so if you’re having trouble getting pregnent, it might be best to avoid it. I also avoided it for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, as I didn’t want to throw the hormone levels out of whack.
If you’re looking to prevent pregnancy, please don’t trust it! There’s lots about it we don’t know anymore, and even practicing herbalists don’t recommend it for reliable contraception. The traditional dosage for contraception seems to be about 2 Tablespoons of seeds, rind, juice and that white stuff, so it might not take that much to be effective. Than again, it might need to be used with something else to have any effect at all. Research is at the infancy stage at the moment.
That said, I love the stuff. I like it best with seltzer water, over ice, about one part pomegranate juice to 4 parts seltzer.
I am skeptical about the claims. If you look at the nutritional label, it seems to consist of… nothing. No vitamins, no minerals, nothing. That web site admits the juice sold has no vitamins, and claims the vit C is destroyed by pasteurization and that the manufacturers simply decided not to add it back as other juices do. I just checked my carton of orange juice; it has 120% of my vitamin C in a serving, and its contents are: “pasteurized orange juice.” No added ascorbic acid. If Florida’s Natural and Tropicana can pasteurize OJ and keep the C, why can’t the pomegranate people? Like I said, I’m skeptical.
