Unless you never shop at a grocery store, go to restaurants or order drinks at the nearby bar, you may have never heard of pomegranate. However, pomegranate is quickly becoming one of the most popular fruits around and has had a skyrocketing increase in demand in the past few years.
What Is A Pomegranate? Pomegranate is the fruit that buds from a shrub native to the Middle East, probably why you haven't seen much of it on the market before the last few years. It is a small, very seedy, red fruit with a very tart yet sweet and often acquired taste.
Pomegranate isn't just available in its natural fruit form anymore, companies have added it to their dietary supplements, juices, ice creams, bath and body products and even restaurants and bars are serving drinks with its juice added such ast the Pomegrantini ( martini with pomegranate juice), the Pomegranate Cosmopolitan and the Orange Pomtini. StarBucks even has their own pomegranate smoothie!
What's All the Hype For?
Pomegranate has entered the spotlight in the past few years as a fruit that has a number of health benefits due to the high number of antioxidants contained in the fruit's juice and seeds. Antioxidants are compounds in foods that protect molecules (including our body's cells) from being damaged by ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species or free radicals). These ROS occur naturally in our body but accumulate more when our bodies are under high amounts of stress, frequently exercise and other conditions. ROS usually occur when a molecule loses an electron causing it to be unstable and dangerous to other molecules. Vitamin C is a great example of an antioxidant; vitamin C readily gives up an electron when in the presence of an ROS in order to neutralize it and protect other cells. Pomegranate is a very good source of vitamin C! Pomegranate juice is high in three different types of polyphenols, a potent form of antioxidants. The three types tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid are present in many fruits, but pomegranate juice contains particularly high amounts of all three and the discovery of that has been why the popularity of pomegranate has skyrocketed. The antioxidants in pomegranates make them a great and beneficial fruit choice!
So This Pomtini Is Good For Me…Right?
Some of the biggest health benefits of antioxidants (including those in pomegranates) include the prevention of certain cancers such as prostate cancer and preventing plaque build-up in your arteries which can lead to heart disease.
In addition to those health benefits, pomegranates are high in vitamin C and potassium, a good source of fibre (particularly the seed itself) and are low in calories, which the majority of fruit are.
Depending on whether you eat the whole fruit, just the seeds (arils) or only the juice, the amount of calories, carbohydrates, and fibre will vary, with the fat and protein remaining the same which is relatively low (less than a gram of each for about a 100 gram serving). When picking fresh pomegranates the skin should be tough, thin and unbroken to ensure that it's ripe and undamaged. However if you're making a food selection based on the health benefits of this fruit, choose with caution. Many companies are riding on the coattails of the pomegranate's popularity and are only adding the flavour, natural or articial to their products in the hope that consumers will purchase simply because pomegranate is listed in the name or ingredients. Many recipes are available and in a wide array of ideas such as adding it to dips, salads, drinks, and as a marinade or seasoning for main course dishes.
Many other fruits and vegetables such as blueberries and broccoli are also good sources of antioxidants so when consuming your 7-8 ( for women) and 8-10 (for men) servings of fruits and vegetables per day make sure to keep up a good variety. However the next time you're at the bar ordering a Pomtini, ask the bartender to make sure it's made with real pomegranate juice, that way your martini may have a health benefit or two!
