Put simply, antioxidants are scavengers that neutralize free radicals, helping to prevent the cell and tissue damage that can lead to disease. 6 Unfortunately, the body doesn’t produce enough antioxidants to do the job on its own.

POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice is full of antioxidants called phytochemicals (“phyto” means plant). Phytochemicals protect plants from disease and damage from ultraviolet light. When we eat plants rich in phytochemicals, they seem to protect us as well.

Polyphenols are an important class of phytochemicals, and tannins, particularly punicalagin, and anthocyanins and ellagic acid are all members of the polyphenol family with significant health benefits. These polyphenols are among the most potent plant antioxidants around and pomegranate juice just happens to be loaded with them. Many fruits contain some of these antioxidants, but pomegranate juice has all 3 of them in large amounts. 1 POM Wonderful pomegranate juice contains a great deal of these vital elements because of the way we press our fruit. Immediately upon harvest, we take our fruit to our specially designed presses, which are similar to those used to press champagne grapes. These presses allow us to extract antioxidants and polyphenols from the inedible portion of the fruit, as well as the arils.

Emerging science has shown that the more of these polyphenols available, the better they may help protect the body from the damaging effects of free radicals. The following studies offer detailed support:

Antioxidant Activity of Pomegranate Juice and Its Relationship with Phenolic Composition and Processing.
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2000

Pomegranate Juice as a Major Source for Polyphenolic Flavonoids and a Most Potent Antioxidant Against LDL Oxidation and Atherosclerosis.
- Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research International, 2002

Bioavailability of Ellagic Acid in Human Plasma after Consumption of Ellagitannins from Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Juice.
- Clinica Chimica Acta, 2004