The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) has recently released a monograph on the published scientific and clinical studies relating to POM Wonderful® Pomegranate Juice.

The monograph includes summaries of 6 clinical trials, in which POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice was evaluated for its effects on cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction. The authors of the monograph further provide information on the active constituents and safety of pomegranate juice, as well as distinguishing characteristics particular to POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice.

“When ABC approached POM Wonderful about doing a monograph, we thought this was an excellent opportunity to have a well-respected organization conduct a third party review of our research,” said Mark Dreher, PhD, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for POM Wonderful. “Having a monograph summarize and evaluate our growing body of research is an important part of our ongoing scientific process.”

Pomegranates have been traditionally used as a food, medicine, and cultural icon by various civilizations for thousands of years. Its popularity among US consumers, however, is relatively recent.

“In 2002, when we launched POM Wonderful, only 12% of the population even knew what a pomegranate was,” said Dr. Dreher. “In 6 years, sales of POM have gone from zero to over $150 million.”

Previous publications and monographs from ABC have covered the pharmacological and clinical literature on numerous medicinal herbs. “So far as we can determine, this may be the first monograph ever published that covers the clinical research on a conventional food product,” said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC, noting that although historically pomegranate has been used as both a food and as a medicinal plant, most people today consider it a conventional food.

“Six years ago, POM Wonderful created the category for pomegranate juice, and since then it has continued to build consumer demand largely based on the health benefits associated with ‘Wonderful’ variety pomegranates—the only variety whose juice has been clinically tested,” said Dr. Dreher. “POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice stands alone as the only pomegranate juice to undergo rigorous clinical testing to determine its health benefits.”

POM Wonderful currently has an additional 12 clinical studies that are either in progress or have been submitted for publication. The subjects of those studies range from prostate health to protection against the common cold. Six of those studies expand upon studies included in the ABC monograph.

Funding for the monograph on POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice was provided by POM Wonderful. As with other product-specific monographs produced by ABC, this monograph was written for ABC by independent experts familiar with the scientific literature on natural health products and was formally peer reviewed by various scientific experts for its accuracy.

ABC’s monograph on POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice is the second in a series of product specific monographs that the organization recently initiated. The first product specific monograph developed by ABC, released in March 2007, provided scientific and clinical trial data regarding the health benefits of CVT-E002®, the active ingredient in the ginseng-based dietary supplement COLD-fX®. COLD-fX is marketed as a treatment for reducing the frequency, severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms. Additional monographs concerning specific researched commercial products and ingredients are being developed by ABC.

ABC’s POM Wonderful® Pomegranate Juice monograph is available on the ABC website, one of the largest independent websites summarizing the scientific literature on medicinal plants and other plant-based ingredients.

About the American Botanical Council

Founded in 1988 the American Botanical Council is the leading nonprofit organization in North America addressing research and educational issues regarding herbs, teas, medicinal plants, and other plant-based ingredients and products. ABC’s members include academic researchers and educators, universities and libraries, health professionals and medical institutions, botanical gardens and arboreta, government agencies, members of the herb, dietary supplement, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries, journalists, consumers, and other interested parties from over 70 countries. ABC occupies a historic 2.5-acre site in Austin, Texas where it publishes HerbalGram, a peer-reviewed journal on herbal medicine; a monthly e-newsletter, HerbalEGram; plus HerbClip, a twice-monthly literature service summarizing and reviewing recently-published clinical and scientific literature; and reference books and other educational materials dealing with herbal therapeutics and quality control. Information: Contact ABC at P.O. Box 144345, Austin, TX 78714-4345, Phone: 512-926-4900. Website: http://www.herbalgram.org/.

About POM Wonderful

POM Wonderful is the largest producer of the Wonderful variety of California pomegranates; the company grows and sells exclusively this variety. POM Wonderful’s pomegranates grow in central California’s sunny San Joaquin Valley. Fresh pomegranates are in season from October through January. The company juices its fresh pomegranates to make POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice and POMx, a highly-concentrated blend of all-natural polyphenol antioxidants harnessed from the same Wonderful variety pomegranates by a patent-pending process. The POMx concentrate is available exclusively in POM Tea, POMx Pills, and POMx Liquid. 

More information is available at http://www.pomwonderful.com/ and http://www.pompills.com/.