Pomegranate Fruit as a Rich Source of Biologically Active Compounds

Abstract

Pomegranate is a widely used plant having medicinal properties. In this review, we have mainly focused on the already published data from our laboratory pertaining to the effect of methanol extract of pericarp of pomegranate (PME) and have compared it with other relevant literatures on Punica. Earlier, we had shown its antiproliferative effect using human breast (MCF-7, MDA MB-231), and endometrial (HEC-1A), cervical (SiHa, HeLa), and ovarian (SKOV3) cancer cell lines, and normal breast fibroblasts (MCF-10A) at concentration of 20–320 μg/mL. The expressions of selected estrogen responsive genes (PR, pS2, and C-Myc) were downregulated by PME. Unlike estradiol, PME did not increase the uterine weight and proliferation in bilaterally ovariectomized Swiss-Albino mice models and its cardioprotective effects were comparable to that of 17β-estradiol. We had further assessed the protective role of PME on skeletal system, using MC3T3-E1 cells. The results indicated that PME (80 μg/mL) significantly increased ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase) activity, supporting its suggested role in modulating osteoblastic cell differentiation. The antiosteoporotic potential of PME was also evaluated in ovariectomized (OVX) rodent model. The results from our studies and from various other studies support the fact that pomegranate fruit is indeed a source of biologically active compounds.

Beneficial Effects of Pomegranate on Lipid Metabolism in Metabolic Disorders

“…The edible part of pomegranate fruit accounts for 15–40% of its total weight, of which water accounts for approximately 79% and carbohydrates account for 7%, and it is also rich in fatty acids, vitamin and mineral elements, soluble solids, and organic acids. More than 60 functional components have been identified in pomegranate and can be divided into 7 categories: phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, vitamins, triterpenes, sterols, and unsaturated fatty acids . Polyphenols are one of the most abundant active components of pomegranate.…”

Reliability and relative validity of a food frequency questionnaire for Italian adults living in Sicily, Southern Italy

“…From an initial pool of 80 foods retrieved by the other FFQs, a number of typical foods and highly consumed by the Sicilian inhabitants were lacking. Among them, we included some fruits that typically grow in the Sicilian area and demonstrated important health benefits, such as red oranges (Grosso et al 2013), prickly pears (Feugang et al 2006), pomegranates (Sreekumar et al 2014), artichoke (Rondanelli et al 2013) and some characteristic foods that may have peculiar nutritional profile [i.e. ''ricotta'' whey cheese have less fats than more common cheeses (Madalozzo et al 2015)].…”

Inhibition of cartilage degradation and suppression of PGE2 and MMPs expression by pomegranate fruit extract in a model of posttraumatic osteoarthritis

“…The fruit itself is a rich source of two types of polyphenolic compounds: anthocyanins (such as delphinidin, cyanidin, and pelargonidin), which give the fruit and juice its red color, and hydrolyzable tannins (such as punicalin, pedunculagin, punicalagin, gallagic, and ellagic acid), which account for 92% of the antioxidant activity of the whole fruit [24, 25]. Studies have also shown that the antioxidant capacity of pomegranate juice is three times that of the popular antioxidant-containing beverages such as red wine and green tea, presumably due to the presence of hydrolyzable tannins in the rind, along with anthocyanins and ellagic acid derivatives [25-27]. In a comparative analysis, anthocyanins from pomegranate were also shown to possess higher antioxidant activity than vitamin-E (a-tocopherol), ascorbic acid and 3-carotene [26].…”