POM Wonderful Nutritional Facts

Pomegranate fruit contains healing qualities known since biblical times. "Wonderful" is the name of a variety of pomegranate fruit grown only in California. The scientific community has used POM Wonderful to study the composition, biological properties and potential healing qualities of pure pomegranate juice. It might be the "gold standard" for pure juice. Pomegranate juice provides a good source of potassium and an unusually high amount of polyphenols. It's the polyphenols that are the target of interest for health benefits.

A pharmacokinetic study published in 2006 in "The Journal of Nutrition" analyzed the composition of POM Wonderful pure pomegranate juice. Researchers found that an 8-oz. serving contains 35 g of carbohydrates, 34 g of natural sugars, 30 mg of sodium, 430 mg of potassium, 4 percent calcium, 2 percent iron and 2,486 mg of total polyphenols. These polyphenols appear to have powerful antioxidant properties to fight disease and protect against infections. Cells damaged by free-radicals contribute to health problems such as heart disease, loss of vision, diabetes and cancer. The polyphenols identified in the pomegranate juice are anthocyanins, punicalagins, ellagic acids and tannins. Pomegranate juice contains mostly polyphenols, in fact 70 percent.

Phytochemicals are naturally occurring substances in fruits, vegetables and other plant foods. Some phytochemicals have greater antioxidant activity than others. There are many groups of phytochemicals. One group is the flavonoids. Within the flavonoid group are the tannins and phenols. Tannins and phenols have the ability to protect your cells from oxidation, decrease the amount of plaque in your blood, increase your good cholesterol blood levels, and decrease cell damage caused by cancer. Pomegranates naturally contain tannins and phenols or polyphenols. You can only get complete polyphenols from consuming pomegranate fruit or pure pomegranate juice, not from a pill or capsule.

If you have diabetes you will be happy to know that pomegranate juice can be added to your list of fruits. In 2009, research conducted at the Glycemic Index Research Service, Sydney University, Australia, tested the glycemic index (GI) value of POM Wonderful. Results showed that pomegranate juice has an average GI value of 53, and a value less than 55 is classified as a low glycemic food. Foods with a low GI value break down more slowly to help regulate your blood sugar levels. Talk to a registered dietitian about how much pomegranate juice you can include in your daily meal plan for diabetes.

POM Wonderful juice blends are nutritionally very similar to pure pomegranate juice. Nutrients vary slightly, but the amount of polyphenols are the same. POM Wonderful blends pure pomegranate juice with only one other fruit juice such as cranberry, blueberry and cherry. According to POM Wonderful, an 8-oz. serving of either one of these pomegranate blends contains about 140 to 160 calories, about 200 to 340 mg of potassium, and about 34 to 39 g of carbohydrates. Some juice blends contain higher amounts of minerals than others. POM Cranberry gives you 10 percent of the required daily amount of iron and less than 5 percent of the RDA of calcium. POM Blueberry gives you less than 5 percent of the RDA of vitamin A and calcium. POM Cherry gives you 15 percent of the RDA for vitamin A and less than 5 percent of the RDA of calcium. All of the juices contain the same amount of polyphenols per serving.