With chambers and blood-red insides, the physical appearance of pomegranates isn’t the only thing that ties them to the human heart. Research indicates these in-season delights are a heart-protective food that could even undo the bodily damage caused by junk food.
Researchers from Spain tested a new supplement on pigs. The supplement was made with polyphenols found in pomegranates – antioxidant compounds which are credited with numerous health benefits including heart protection.
The researchers first fed the pigs—whose cardiovascular systems are similar to ours—a diet of fatty, damaging foods. Unsurprisingly, this diet damaged the lining of their blood vessels. Damage to this lining, the endothelium, is often the first step in atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries which leads to heart attacks and strokes.
This fatty diet left the pigs with less elastic vessels and caused them to produce less nitric acid, a gas that keeps vessels healthy in animals and humans alike. These changes are similar to the ones experienced in people who eat an unhealthy diet.
