Wake up, get dressed, pour a cup of coffee. No, make that pomegranate juice.
For the past month, I’ve started each day with a glass – about eight ounces – of 100 percent pomegranate juice, which makes for an unconventional – and tart – eye-opener.
The coffee comes a little later on, so it’s not to replace the energy boost that comes with caffeine, and it’s not part of some trendy cleanse.
Instead, the juice is an unlikely silver bullet that could, if recent research is to be believed, slash my risk of heart disease.
And that is something of personal interest to me.
Earlier this year, a routine blood test showed I had slightly elevated cholesterol and triglycerides.
Although I’m just 30, and eat a healthy, balanced diet, it’s not the first time I’ve had a reading like this.
Heart disease doesn’t run in the family, and the doctor didn’t seem too concerned, simply saying we should keep an eye on it, but of course, it’s still a bit of a worry.
After learning about recent research tying pomegranate juice to lower cholesterol, Emily, 30, decided to put the theory to the test
Consistently high amounts of a type of cholesterol called low-density lipoprotein, or LDL for short, contributes to build up in the arteries known as plaques.
These narrow the vessels and restrict blood flow throughout the body, and increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Triglycerides, fats that circulate in the blood and come from foods like butter and oils, can, in excess, cause similar damage.
I’m not alone, of course. One in 10 Americans has high cholesterol, and roughly 40 percent of those don’t know about their own risk.
At just $0.10 per pill, statins are the gold standard in the US for treating high cholesterol, but they’re associated with side effects ranging from muscle pain to liver dysfunction, leaving some people looking for alternatives.
Around the time I got my most recent results, I was already aware of research suggesting pomegranate juice could lower cholesterol and triglycerides.
This, say experts, could be due to compounds called polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that give the fruit its rich red hue. These compounds neutralize harmful molecules called free radicals, preventing oxidative stress that leads to inflammation.
‘Pomegranate juice is one of the more interesting foods in the cholesterol conversation because the mechanism is actually well supported,’ Kristen Kuminski, a registered dietitian nutritionist at The Rx Index, told the Daily Mail.
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‘The polyphenols, specifically ones known as punicalagins and anthocyanins, reduce oxidative stress on LDL cholesterol.’
Oxidative stress is a bit like rusting – LDL cholesterol can be chemically ‘damaged’ by reactive oxygen molecules in the bloodstream, making it more likely to stick to artery walls and form plaques.
Kuminski continued: ‘Oxidized LDL is the form that contributes most to plaque buildup in arteries, so reducing that oxidation is genuinely relevant to cardiovascular risk.’
People who have added pomegranate juice to their daily routine have seen staggering results, recent studies show.
In one 2023 meta–analysis, consuming pomegranates consistently was associated with modest 12 mg/dL drops in triglycerides and 4 mg/dL decreases in total cholesterol, on average.
And in a small study of overweight people with dyslipidemia – a condition that causes high cholesterol – people who drank a cup of pomegranate juice every day for two weeks lowered their LDL cholesterol by 4 to 6 mg/dL.
This is not on a par with statins, which can cut LDL cholesterol by 20 to 60 percent, but is more in line with the modest improvements seen from dietary changes such as increasing fiber intake.
In light of this, I decided to give pomegranate juice a go, committing to drinking it every morning for a month to see if it could help cut my cholesterol levels down before they could lead to any lasting health issues.
Pomegranate juice is an unlikely silver bullet that could, if recent research is to be believed, slash my risk of heart disease
There were seemingly endless varieties of pomegranate juices on the shelf of my local New York City grocery store, but the key, research shows, is picking a 100 percent juice, as these do not have added sugar on top of natural sugar from the fruit.
A cup of 100 percent pomegranate juice already contains about 34g of natural sugar, so you don’t need any more.
‘Many products labeled as pomegranate juice are mostly apple or grape juice with minimal pomegranate content,’ Kuminski added.
So be careful and read the label.
The downside, as I discovered, is 100 percent juice can be significantly more expensive. A 48oz bottle cost me about $10 to $13, depending on which store I went to, while fruit juice mixes with added sugar were closer to $5.
And each bottle lasted me about five to seven days, so I spent at least $40 on juice over the course of a month, but that works out at about $1.30-a-day, which isn’t the end of the world.
I should probably also mention, while I like pomegranate juice, the intense tart taste gets quite challenging after a few days.
The results, however, are hard to argue with.
Compared to my results from three months prior to my experiment, my total cholesterol dropped 15 percent, from 208 mg/dL to 177 mg/dL.
This got me out of ‘borderline high’ territory into a normal range.
My LDL cholesterol also dropped by 19 percent, decreasing from 128 mg/dL in January to 104 mg/dL after my experiment, from ‘borderline high’ to normal.
Given that, in studies, cholesterol lowering drug ezetimibe manages between 15 and 20 percent reductions in LDL, this is an impressive result.
HDL, which is considered ‘good cholesterol,’ also stayed the same, while triglycerides, however, increased slightly from 166 mg/DL to 175 mg/dL, a five percent difference.
It’s unclear what exactly may have caused this uptick, but it’s possible the beta blockers I take for a minor heart condition may have played a role, as well as hormones.
Importantly, drugs like statins remain a tried and true method for lowering cholesterol.
According to Yale Medicine, the cheap pills, taken by nearly 50 million Americans, can slash levels by 30 to 50 percent in about four to six weeks, though exact results vary for each person.
So while diet has been shown to improve cholesterol, for many people, medication is needed as well.
‘There have been no studies comparing pomegranate juice to statins, so I would not stop taking them or replacing them with all things pomegranate,’ Dr Catherine Perrault, family physician and Chief Medical Officer at The Mesothelioma Center, told the Daily Mail.
‘I do think that patients should try to optimize their health with non pharmaceuticals as well.
‘If you start incorporating pomegranates daily with your daily regimen of medications, make sure to tell your doctor, so that they can [adjust] your medications accordingly if your labs show some changes.’
For now, my cholesterol levels have been kept at bay.
Time will tell if I need to eventually consider statins or other medications, but I do think I’ll be picking up the occasional bottle of pomegranate juice at the store more often.
