In vivo studies in healthy nonsmoking men and mice with experimentally
induced atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) concluded
that pomegranate juice (Punica granatum)
had potent antiatherogenic effects, possibly due its antioxidant
activity. In the men, consumption of pomegranate juice decreased
the susceptibility of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
to aggregation and retention, and increased the activity of serum
paraoxonase (a naturally occurring antioxidant) by 20%. In mice,
pomegranate juice reduced oxidation of LDL by 90%. In addition,
pomegranate juice shrank atherosclerotic lesions in the mice by
44%, compared with control mice. Aviram M, Dornfeld L, Rosenblat
M, et al. Pomegranate juice consumption reduces oxidative stress,
atherogenic modifications to LDL, and platelet aggregation: studies
in humans and in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000; 71: 1062-1076.
