Effect of pomegranate juice consumption on biochemical parameters and complete blood count

Abstract

Abstract. Pomegranate has been used therapeutically for centuries. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of pomegranate juice (PJ) supplementation on complete blood count (CBC), glucose, blood lipids and C-reactive protein (CRP) in healthy subjects. A total of 5 males and 5 females (aged 31.8±6.6 years, weighing 66.2±12.9 kg) were randomly assigned into one of two groups and either consumed 500 ml PJ/day or no PJ for 14 days. Blood samples were obtained from participants prior to and following the experimental period. PJ consumption resulted in a significant increase in red blood cell count (P<0.05), hemoglobin levels (P<0.001) and hematocrit levels (P<0.05). Other CBC parameters, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein and CRP levels did not significantly change following PJ consumption. These results indicate that PJ intake for a short period of time may result in increased erythropoiesis or decreased degradation without any significant alterations in factors associated with metabolic health and inflammation in healthy individuals.

Does pomegranate consumption affect weight and body composition? A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

“…Meta‐analysis of five RCTs (Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ; González‐Ortiz et al, ; Manthou et al, ; Sadegh Eghbali et al, ; Stockton et al, ) did not show a statistically significant difference in body fat percentage between intervention and control groups (WMD = −0.05, 95% CI: −1.66, 1.55, P = 0.947; Figure d). The between‐study heterogeneity was high ( Q statistic = 10.59, I 2 = 62.2%, P = 0.032), and subgroup analysis showed nonsignificant body fat percent reduction, similar to BMI subgroup, which was higher in obese people (WMD = −0.13, 95% CI: −4.79, 4.51, P = 0.954) compared with overweight (WMD = −0.04, 95% CI: −1.38, 1.30, P = 0.954) or normal individuals (WMD = 0.14, 95% CI: −1.99, 2.29, P = 0.892).…”

“…The main characteristics of 13 eligible trials are summarized in Table . Included studies were published between 2005 and 2017, which among them, four studies were performed in Iran (Ekhlasi et al, ; Hosseini et al, ; Sadegh Eghbali et al, ; Sohrab et al, ), two in the United States (Sumner et al, ; Wu et al, ) and UK (Lynn et al, ; Stockton et al, ), and other studies were conducted in Spain (Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ), Mexico (González‐Ortiz et al, ), Korea (Park et al, ), Greece (Manthou et al, ), and Serbia (Kojadinovic et al, ). The follow‐up period of included studies varied between 2 to 26 weeks.…”

“…Only, 1 out of 13 studies was conducted exclusively in men (Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ), and three in women (Kojadinovic et al, ; Park et al, ; Sadegh Eghbali et al, ), and the other seven trials were performed in both sexes (Ekhlasi et al, ; Lynn et al, ; Manthou et al, ; Sohrab et al, ; Stockton et al, ; Sumner et al, ; Wu et al, ); however, sex composition of participants was not mentioned in two studies (González‐Ortiz et al, ; Hosseini et al, ). The interventions were diverse and could be categorized into pomegranate juice (PJ), which used in nine trials (Ekhlasi et al, ; Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ; González‐Ortiz et al, ; Kojadinovic et al, ; Lynn et al, ; Manthou et al, ; Sadegh Eghbali et al, ;Sohrab et al, ; Sumner et al, ); pomegranate extracts (PE), which used in three studies (Hosseini et al, ; Stockton et al, ; Wu et al, ); and pomegranate vinegar (PV), which was used in one study (Park et al, ). All studies except one study (Sohrab et al, ) did not consider energy adjustment of dietary intake and only supplemented pomegranate in addition to diet in participants.…”

“…The details of the risk of bias assessment of individual studies are presented in Table . Only 4 of 13 included studies explained how the subjects were randomized, such as internet random number generator website (Stockton et al, ), block randomization (Hosseini et al, ; Lynn et al, ), and computer generated random numbers (Park et al, ), whereas other trials did not mention randomization procedure (Ekhlasi et al, ; Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ; González‐Ortiz et al, ; Kojadinovic et al, ; Manthou et al, ; Sadegh Eghbali et al, ; Sohrab et al, ; Sumner et al, ; Wu et al, ). Moreover, eight studies (Fuster‐Muñoz et al, ; González‐Ortiz et al, ; Hosseini et al, ; Park et al, ; Sohrab et al, ; Stockton et al, ; Sumner et al, ; Wu et al, ) reported double blinding, but most of them did not explain the method of blinding.…”

Pomegranate juice improves cardiometabolic risk factors, biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation in hemodialysis patients: a randomized crossover trial

“…45 Likewise, the anti-inflammatory effect of pomegranate has been shown by reduction of C-reactive protein 28,38 and IL-6, 38,45 with the latter being an inflammatory biomarker with the maximum predictive value for ESRD outcome. 46 Once again, pomegranate may not exert these effects in non-oxidative stress conditions 27,47 or if administered in pre-dialysis states. 18 Also, such beneficial effects have not been observed in high doses of pomegranate and long interventions.…”