Pomegranate Juice Could Benefit Diabetics and Slow Bad Cholesterol

August 24, 2006 – Pomegranate juice can reduce the risk for atherosclerosis, and thus the risk of death for diabetics, since the condition leads to arterial wall thickening and hardening, and accounts for 80 percent of deaths for diabetic patients. It also reduces the uptake of bad cholesterol, according to studies at Technion-Isreal Institute of Technology.

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According to results published in the August 2006 issue of Atherosclerosis, subjects reduced their risk of atherosclerosis by drinking 180 ml (6 oz.) of pomegranate juice per day for three months.

The researchers also found that drinking pomegranate juice reduced the uptake of oxidized LDL (“bad” cholesterol) by large, versatile immune cells known as macrophages. Oxidized LDL uptake by macrophages is a main contributing factor to the development of atherosclerosis.

One surprising finding, said lead researcher Professor Michael Aviram of the Technion Faculty of Medicine, was that the sugars contained in pomegranate juice – although similar in content to those found in other fruit juices – did not worsen diabetes disease parameters (including blood sugar levels) in the patients, but in fact reduced the risk for atherosclerosis.

“In most juices, sugars are present in free – and harmful – forms,” explained Aviram. “In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis.”

The findings of this small (20 subjects) study are part of Aviram’s ongoing research into the effects of pomegranates on cholesterol oxidation and cardiovascular diseases. In his previous widely published studies, Aviram was the first to prove that consuming red wine reduces cholesterol oxidation and arteriosclerosis, which leads to heart disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. His later studies confirmed the antioxidant and anti-atherosclerotic benefits of licorice, olive oil, onions and pomegranates.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 20.8 million people in the United States have diabetes. Both type I and type II diabetes are powerful and independent risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral arterial disease.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology reports it is Israel's leading science and technology university. Home to the country’s only winners of the Nobel Prize in science, it commands a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in nanotechnology, computer science, biotechnology, water-resource management, materials engineering, aerospace and medicine. The majority of the founders and managers of Israel's high-tech companies are alumni. Based in New York City, the American Technion Society is the leading American organization supporting higher education in Israel, with 17 offices around the country.

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