Pomegranate Extract PRO

Why Pomegranate Extract?

The pomegranate is the fruit of a shrub (Punica granatum L.), that is found mainly in Western Asia and the Mediterranean region as well as in other parts of the world. The fruit is a fleshy berry. The whole pomegranate and its juice have an intense colour, for which the bioactive plant compounds it contains, in particular anthocyanins, are responsible.

Pomegranate consumption itself shows a long tradition that dates back to the early Bronze Age (3500–2000 BC). The pomegranate plant is one of the oldest cultivated plants, along with the grape, the olive, the date and the fig. It is already mentioned in the Bible and the Qur'an and is considered a fortunate symbol in many religions and cultures, above all for life, happiness, abundance and fertility.

These ingredients make pomegranate extract so special

Pomegranates contain, in addition to micronutrients such as potassium and folate, a variety of beneficial plant secondary metabolites, primarily polyphenols, including in particular tannins with the ellagitannins, to which punicalagin belongs, flavonoids, the subgroup of flavanols with catechins and epicatechins found in green tea for example, anthocyanins and phenolic acids, which include for example ellagic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic and p-coumaric acid.

In science, above all the ellagitannins found abundantly in pomegranates are reported on. Among them is punicalagin, often mentioned in this context, which in turn reacts naturally further into ellagic acid. In the intestine, ellagic acid is metabolised by intestinal bacteria primarily further into urolithins. It is precisely this three-way combination of plant compounds that science is interested in with regard to the health effects of the pomegranate, as they are the principal polyphenols of the pomegranate.

Punicalagin has brought pomegranate its fame, as it has an incredibly high antioxidative effect, which is roughly three times as high as that of red wine and green tea. Nevertheless, punicalagin does not seem to be primarily responsible for the effect observed in studies, as at least in humans only the metabolites resulting from it are measured, namely ellagic acid and urolithins. These have a comparable antioxidative effect to green tea extract and red wine.

In preclinical models and studies in human immune cells, researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt found that urolithin A, a metabolic product from the pomegranate, sustainably improves the function of immune cells.

(Source)

Another interesting component of the pomegranate are anthocyanins, water-soluble plant pigments that belong to the polyphenol family of flavonoids and are responsible for the colour of the fruit. Numerous health effects are attributed to this group of plant compounds, including for example their antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative properties, which have been extensively investigated.

The edubily® Pomegranate Extract

What makes our pomegranate extract so unique? Based on the latest research findings (Source), we have added the three Bifidobacterium strains B. longum, B. adolescentis and B. bifidum as well as Lactobacillus plantarum. These bacteria are namely necessary to convert the active ingredient ellagic acid in the intestine into the beneficial urolithin A. Since this does not work in many people due to suboptimal intestinal flora, our pomegranate extract capsules deliver the appropriate bacteria right along with it.