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Pomegranate

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Bioactive Compounds and Cancer

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

Key Points

1. The pomegranate fruit has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times, but extensive research on the bioactive substances in the pomegranate has potential applications in the chemoprevention of common forms of cancer.

2. Pomegranates have been shown to contain 124 different phytochemicals, and some of these act in concert to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on cancer cells. Pomegranate juice made by squeezing whole fruit has the highest concentration of ellagitannins of any commonly consumed juice and contains the unique ellagitannin, punicalagin.

3. Punicalagin is the largest molecular weight polyphenol known. Pomegranate ellagitannins are not absorbed intact into the blood stream but are hydrolyzed to ellagic acid over several hours in the intestine. They are also metabolized by gut flora into urolithins which are conjugated in the liver and excreted in the urine. These urolithins are also bioactive and inhibit prostate cancer cell growth. Inhibition of nuclear factor kappa-B activation has been shown in prostate cancer cells and in human prostate cancer xenografts in mice. Inhibition of angiogenesis by inhibition of HIF-1 alpha activation of VEGF has also been demonstrated in animals with xenografts.

4. In clinical studies, pomegranate juice administration led to a decrease in the rate of rise of prostate-specific antigen after primary treatment with surgery or radiation. Continued translational research on the chemopreventive potential of pomegranate ellagitannins is ongoing.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    David Heber MD, PHD

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  1. David Heber MD, PHD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nutritional Science Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Executive Boulevard 6130, Rockville, 20892, Maryland, USA

    John A. Milner

  2. Nutritional and Cancer Biology, BIO5 Institute and Center for Toxicology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, 85721-0038, Arizona, USA

    Donato F. Romagnolo

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Heber, D. (2010). Pomegranate. In: Milner, J., Romagnolo, D. (eds) Bioactive Compounds and Cancer. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-627-6_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-627-6_30

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

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