The Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5–8 m tall. The pomegranate is native from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and has been cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region including Armenia since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout Iran, India and the drier parts of southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies and tropical Africa. The tree was introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. In the United States, it is grown for its fruits mainly in the drier parts of California and Arizona.

Health benefits

One pomegranate delivers 40% of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement. It is also a rich source of folic acid and of antioxidants. Pomegranates are high in polyphenols. The most abundant polyphenols in pomegranate are hydrolysable tannins, particularly punicalagins, which have been shown in many peer-reviewed research publications to be the antioxidant responsible for the free-radical scavenging ability of pomegranate juice.

Many food and dietary supplement makers have found the advantages of using pomegranate extracts (which have no sugar, calories, or additives), instead of the juice, as healthy ingredients in their products. Many pomegranate extracts are essentially ellagic acid, which is largely a by-product of the juice extraction process. Ellagic acid has only been shown in published studies to absorb into the body when consumed as ellagitannins such as punicalagins.

Ellagic acid seems to have some anti-cancer properties. It can act as an antioxidant, and has been found to cause apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells in the lab. There are also reports that it may help the liver to break down or remove some cancer-causing substances from the blood. Ellagic acid has also been said to reduce heart disease, birth defects, liver problems, and to promote wound healing.

In several human clinical trials, the juice of the pomegranate has been found effective in reducing several heart risk factors, including LDL oxidation, macrophage oxidative status, and foam cell formation, all of which are steps in atherosclerosis and heart disease. Tannins have been identified as the primary components responsible for the reduction of oxidative states which lead to these risk factors. Pomegranate has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by inhibiting serum angiotension converting enzyme (ACE).

Research suggests that pomegranate juice may be effective against prostate cancer and osteoarthritis.