Pomegranate:Ancient Fruit of Life Yields Modern Promise.
Article Content:
- .Basic Botanical Info of Pomegranate.
- .Pomegranate Origin and History.
- .Pomegranate Constituents and Phytochemicals.
- .Pomegranate Food Value and Uses.
- .Other Uses of Pomegranate.
- .Pomegranate Medicinal Action and Uses.
- .Suggestions and Administration of Pomegranate.
- .Safety and Toxicity Study.
- .Pomegranate and Its Modern Research Update.
Pomegranate Food Value and Uses.
For enjoying out-of-hand or at the table, the fruit is deeply scored several times vertically and then broken apart; then the clusters of juice sacs can be lifted out of the rind and eaten. Italians and other pomegranate fanciers consider this not a laborious handicap but a social, family or group activity, prolonging the pleasure of dining.
In some countries, such as Iran, the juice is a very popular beverage. Most simply, the juice sacs are removed from the fruit and put through a basket press. Otherwise, the fruits are quartered and crushed, or the whole fruits may be pressed and the juice strained out. In Iran, the cut-open fruits may be stomped by a person wearing special shoes in a clay tub and the juice runs through outlets into clay troughs. Hydraulic extraction of juice should be at a pressure of less than 100 psi to avoid undue yield of tannin. The juice from crushed whole fruits contains excess tannin from the rind (as much as .175%) and this is precipitated out by a gelatin process. After filtering, the juice may be preserved by adding sodium benzoate or it may be pasteurized for 30 minutes, allowed to settle for 2 days, then strained and bottled. For beverage purposes, it is usually sweetened. Housewives in South Carolina make pomegranate jelly by adding 7 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 bottle of liquid pectin for every 4 cups of juice. In Saudi Arabia, the juice sacs may be frozen intact or the extracted juice may be concentrated and frozen, for future use. Pomegranate juice is widely made into grenadine for use in mixed drinks. In the Asiatic countries it may be made into a thick sirup for use as a sauce. It is also often converted into wine.
In the home kitchen, the juice can be easily extracted by reaming the halved fruits on an ordinary orange-juice squeezer.
In south China, a major use of the wild fruits is for the preparation of "anardana",the juice sacs being dried in the sun for 10 to 15 days and then sold as a spice.
| Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Portion* | |
| Calories | 63-78 |
| Moisture | 72.6-86.4 g |
| Protein | 0.05-1.6 g |
| Fat | Trace only to 0.9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 15.4-19.6 g |
| Fiber | 3.4-5.0 g |
| Ash | 0.36-0.73 g |
| Calcium | 3-12 mg |
| Phosphorus | 8-37 mg |
| Iron | 0.3-1.2 mg |
| Sodium | 3 mg |
| Potassium | 259 mg |
| Carotene | None to Trace |
| Thiamine | 0.003 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.012-0.03 mg |
| Niacin | 0.180-0.3 mg |
| Ascorbic Acid | 4-4.2 mg |
| Citric Acid | 0.46-3.6 mg |
| Boric Acid | 0.005 mg |
Pomegranate and Its nutrition value:
The pomegranate is known to be a powerful antioxidant, natural phytoestrogen, and rare plant based source of Omega 5 fatty acid. Recent interest in the medicinal properties of the pomegranate, and in particular pomegranate seed oil, have resulted in a number of clinical studies:
*Antioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate seed oil and fermented juice flavonoids
The antioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum) fermented juice and seed oil flavonoids were studied.
*Chemopreventive and adjuvant therapeutic potential of pomegranate (Punica granatum) for human breast cancer
Pomegranate seeds contain an oil of which about 80% is a rare trans 18 carbon fatty acid (punicic acid), and possess the highest botanical concentration of a sex steroid, estrone, at 17mg/kg dried seed.
*Differentiation-Promoting Activity of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Fruit Extracts in HL-60 Human Promyelocytic Leukemia Cells
Differentiation, the transformation of a cell toward its particular specialized function, is an important approach to cancer therapy.
*Preliminary Studies on the anti-angiogenic potential of pomegranate fractions in vitro and in vivo
We previously showed pomegranate seed oil and fermented juice polyhenols to retard oxidation and prostaglandin synthesis, to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion, and to promote breast cancer cell apoptosis.
*Chemopreventive Effects of Pomegranate Seed Oil on Skin Tumor Development in Mice
Pomegranate seed oil was investigated for possible skin cancer chemopreventive efficacy in mice.
*Endometriosis - 2005
Endometriosis is often thoughts of as a gynecological illness involving only the reproductive tract but more recent insite suggests that endometriosis is a systemic medical illness.
Pharmacological and therapeutic properties of pomegranate:
The cross-cultural and ethnobotanical embodiments of pomegranate (Punica granatum) are reviewed. A symbol of fecundity and divine feminity emerges, whose fruit rinds, bark and roots are used worldwide as taenicides, owning to alkaloids, and treatment of diarrhea and oral and genital lesions, owing to tannins and astringency.
*Rapid dereplication of estrogenic compounds in pomegranate (Punica granatum) using on-line biochemical detection coupled to mass spectrometry
Various parts of the pomegranate fruit (Punica granatum; Punicaceae),e.g. seed oil,juice, fermented juice and peel extract,have been shown to exert suppressive effects on human breast cancer cells in vitro.
Reference:
1.Pomegranate:Ancient Fruit of Life Yields Modern Promise.Pomegranate Extract.
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