With big health benefits and a delicious sweet and tart flavor, pomegranate juice could be your body’s new best friend. This wonderful juice is squeezed from the fruit of a ruby red pomegranate.
Interest in pomegranates stems from the high concentration of antioxidants that accompanies the sweetness of its juice. Pomegranate juice has been in more clinical trials than any fruit juice. These studies have shown that daily consumption of pomegranate juice, about 8 ounces a day for three months or more may help:
- Reduce dangerous LDL-cholesterol
- Lower blood pressure
- Improve blood flow
- Reduce thickening of the arteries
- Increase antioxidant activity in the blood
Pomegranate juice may also help maintain the health of blood vessels in several ways:
- Reversing a process called LDL-oxidation. LDL, which stands for low-density lipoprotein, is the major protein responsible for transporting cholesterol in your blood and depositing cholesterol in the walls of blood vessels. The level of oxidized LDL in blood is emerging as a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
- Decreasing inflammation in the lining of blood vessels. Inflammation can contribute to atherosclerosis and hardening of the arteries.
In studies, unsweetened pomegranate juice has been more effective than any single component. Not only does pomegranate juice contain potent phenolic antioxidants, like other brightly colored fruits, but pomegranate juice contains unique complex sugars that may be anti-inflammatory on their own.
In The Fat Resistance Diet, we use only pure unsweetened pomegranate juice in our recipes and meal plans. Juice mixtures that add pomegranate to white grape juice not only dilute, but may even counteract, the pomegranate effect. To help get the benefits of pomegranate, try enjoying an 8-ounce glass of unsweetened pomegranate juice per day.
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