Pomegranate's Powerful Protection
More and more medical doctors are broadening their scope of sources which are helpful to their patients. In 1996, my cardiologist first mentioned magnesium to improve the electro-conductivity related to problems of arrhythmias. It proved successful in my case to the extent that I have not visited the emergency room since.
Recently, this same cardiologist mentioned pomegranate as a powerful protection for aging arteries—and much more. While watching the "Ten Commandments" reference was made to the moist, red lips to that of the fruit of the pomegranate.
Every year, more than a million Americans are struck down by a heart attack or stroke. For many, sudden death will be their first—and last—symptom of undetected vascular disease. Those lucky enough to survive the first attack are faced with invasive procedures like angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, followed by a lifetime of curtailed physical activity and costly heart medications.
If you trust your vascular health to mainstream doctors, you may be gambling with your life. Although cardiovascular disease remains the nation’s number-one killer, American medicine prioritizes heart disease treatment rather than prevention.
Fortunately more of these doctors are switching to "integrative medicine" which includes preventive modalities including lifestyle changes and food sources which are proven by research to be effective. One of the most promising heart-protective agents to emerge in recent years is pomegranate. Packed with unique antioxidants that guard the body’s endothelial cells against free-radical assault, pomegranate has been shown to prevent—and even reverse—cardiovascular disease.
Research also shows that pomegranate can stop the progression of deadly prostate cancer. And scientists are now exploring pomegranate’s potential in averting ailments ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease, as well as its role in supporting skin, joint, dental and liver health. Unfortunately, the slow progression to this point has been based on the bottom line - it has been far more profitable to treat heart disease than to prevent it.
Like cranberries, pomegranate is bitter and is usually difficult to sell without the use of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Other ways include mixing it with other fruit juices. We need to find ways to make pomegranate palatable to modern day Americans. Major supermarkets now include it as one of their juices and vitamin suppliers also include it in a supplemental pill form.
However, with approximately 71 million Americans suffering from cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary artery disease, a history of stroke, or peripheral vascular disease (impaired blood flow to the extremities—we are beginning to realize that we need to pay more attention to the good and bad foods that either clean our arteries or clog them.
In both laboratory and clinical studies, pomegranate shows great promise in averting the numerous pathological changes associated with cardiovascular disease. Scientists believe pomegranate works through several mechanisms to fight cardiovascular disease by: reducing oxidative stress, supporting the synthesis and activity of nitric oxide, inhibiting the oxidation of potentially harmful LDL (low-density lipoprotein).
In one study, for example, pomegranate juice outperformed numerous other potent antioxidants—grape juice, blueberry juice, red wine, vitamin C, and vitamin E, among others—in "quenching" the damaging effects of free radicals on cell membranes. While all the antioxidant nutrients tested effectively prevented the cells overgrowth of undesirable muscle cells in blood vessel walls—a factor contributing to elevated blood pressure—pomegranate juice was by far the most effective of all. Among patients given daily pomegranate juice supplements (providing 78mg of punicalagins) for one year, atherosclerotic lesions in the common carotid artery decreased by 35% in size, while actually growing by 9% in a control group. Thus pomegranate reversed existing atherosclerosis, which continued to worsen in those who did not consume pomegranate. Blood analysis showed that total antioxidant activity increased 130% in the pomegranate juice group, compared to before-treatment values. Finally the participants systolic blood pressure fell by an impressive 21% after one year of pomegranate juice supplementation.
In addition to its diverse cardio-protective effects, pomegranate may have profound benefit for people with diabetes and the pre-diabetic condition known as metabolic syndrome.
To start with, pomegranate components appear to lower blood sugar levels immediately following a meal, according to research from Australia. Scientists, there, who studied obese rats with type II diabetes found that oral administration of pomegranate extract markedly lowered the animals’ blood sugar levels after a meal, while having minimal effect on the blood sugar levels of animals that had not eaten.
When we were poor and unable to buy processed foods and get our fast food at restaurants, we were better served by good food such as that found in the Mediterranean diet. We may have to consider revisiting the foods that permitted our ancestors to live longer, without as much disease, and able to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Knowledge can be a powerful tool if we decide to approach food as a preventative rather than pills as a cure. Making the almighty dollar our main concern has brought our environment to cause us serious illness and disease. The internet has brought together a new age of knowledge and we can now address the sacred cows of the dinosaur age of medicine with new, effective and well-researched alternatives to the magic pill of yesterday.
Recently, this same cardiologist mentioned pomegranate as a powerful protection for aging arteries—and much more. While watching the "Ten Commandments" reference was made to the moist, red lips to that of the fruit of the pomegranate.
Every year, more than a million Americans are struck down by a heart attack or stroke. For many, sudden death will be their first—and last—symptom of undetected vascular disease. Those lucky enough to survive the first attack are faced with invasive procedures like angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, followed by a lifetime of curtailed physical activity and costly heart medications.
If you trust your vascular health to mainstream doctors, you may be gambling with your life. Although cardiovascular disease remains the nation’s number-one killer, American medicine prioritizes heart disease treatment rather than prevention.
Fortunately more of these doctors are switching to "integrative medicine" which includes preventive modalities including lifestyle changes and food sources which are proven by research to be effective. One of the most promising heart-protective agents to emerge in recent years is pomegranate. Packed with unique antioxidants that guard the body’s endothelial cells against free-radical assault, pomegranate has been shown to prevent—and even reverse—cardiovascular disease.
Research also shows that pomegranate can stop the progression of deadly prostate cancer. And scientists are now exploring pomegranate’s potential in averting ailments ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease, as well as its role in supporting skin, joint, dental and liver health. Unfortunately, the slow progression to this point has been based on the bottom line - it has been far more profitable to treat heart disease than to prevent it.
Like cranberries, pomegranate is bitter and is usually difficult to sell without the use of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Other ways include mixing it with other fruit juices. We need to find ways to make pomegranate palatable to modern day Americans. Major supermarkets now include it as one of their juices and vitamin suppliers also include it in a supplemental pill form.
However, with approximately 71 million Americans suffering from cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary artery disease, a history of stroke, or peripheral vascular disease (impaired blood flow to the extremities—we are beginning to realize that we need to pay more attention to the good and bad foods that either clean our arteries or clog them.
In both laboratory and clinical studies, pomegranate shows great promise in averting the numerous pathological changes associated with cardiovascular disease. Scientists believe pomegranate works through several mechanisms to fight cardiovascular disease by: reducing oxidative stress, supporting the synthesis and activity of nitric oxide, inhibiting the oxidation of potentially harmful LDL (low-density lipoprotein).
In one study, for example, pomegranate juice outperformed numerous other potent antioxidants—grape juice, blueberry juice, red wine, vitamin C, and vitamin E, among others—in "quenching" the damaging effects of free radicals on cell membranes. While all the antioxidant nutrients tested effectively prevented the cells overgrowth of undesirable muscle cells in blood vessel walls—a factor contributing to elevated blood pressure—pomegranate juice was by far the most effective of all. Among patients given daily pomegranate juice supplements (providing 78mg of punicalagins) for one year, atherosclerotic lesions in the common carotid artery decreased by 35% in size, while actually growing by 9% in a control group. Thus pomegranate reversed existing atherosclerosis, which continued to worsen in those who did not consume pomegranate. Blood analysis showed that total antioxidant activity increased 130% in the pomegranate juice group, compared to before-treatment values. Finally the participants systolic blood pressure fell by an impressive 21% after one year of pomegranate juice supplementation.
In addition to its diverse cardio-protective effects, pomegranate may have profound benefit for people with diabetes and the pre-diabetic condition known as metabolic syndrome.
To start with, pomegranate components appear to lower blood sugar levels immediately following a meal, according to research from Australia. Scientists, there, who studied obese rats with type II diabetes found that oral administration of pomegranate extract markedly lowered the animals’ blood sugar levels after a meal, while having minimal effect on the blood sugar levels of animals that had not eaten.
When we were poor and unable to buy processed foods and get our fast food at restaurants, we were better served by good food such as that found in the Mediterranean diet. We may have to consider revisiting the foods that permitted our ancestors to live longer, without as much disease, and able to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Knowledge can be a powerful tool if we decide to approach food as a preventative rather than pills as a cure. Making the almighty dollar our main concern has brought our environment to cause us serious illness and disease. The internet has brought together a new age of knowledge and we can now address the sacred cows of the dinosaur age of medicine with new, effective and well-researched alternatives to the magic pill of yesterday.
Health care costs will decrease as we realize that we must start earlier in our lives to address the consequences of poor nutrition and destructive behavior and consumption of alcohol, fried foods, transfats and processed sugar. College students need to know that alcohol is a toxic drink capable of killing their friends and destroying their livers.
posted by Stan Kent at
6:13 PM
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