Pomegranate and its effects on cardiovascular health

This chapter reviews the current evidence on the effects of pomegranate and pomegranate based food items on cardiovascular health, critically discussing both human studies and cell and animal models. Human intervention trials have only weakly demonstrated the efficacy of pomegranate on cardiovascular prevention so far, as a result of methodological constraints. However, they have anticipated the beneficial effects of pomegranate, in particular pomegranate juice, on the improvement of blood pressure, inflammation, and atherosclerotic lesions, as well as on the enhancement of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity. Regrettably, animal and cell studies have failed to shed light on the rationale behind the evidence observed in humans, mainly due to a lack of realistic and holistic approaches. In conclusion, the preventative effects pomegranate juice and other pomegranate products, as well as for nutraceutical products rich in pomegranate phenolics, is promising, but well-designed research should be conducted to fully unravel the real effects of pomegranate on human cardiovascular health.