Healing Tip: Pomegranates for Men's Health

Pomegranates have come into their own in the past few years, with scores of studies attesting to their myriad health benefits—from improving blood flow to the heart to lowering blood pressure to fighting free radicals. But one of the most exciting areas of research is prostate cancer.

UCLA researchers examined a group of men with recurrent prostate cancer who had gone through conventional treatment and tracked their PSA doubling time. PSA doubling is a marker of disease progression: The faster the doubling the time, the more aggressive the disease.

At the study’s onset, it averaged 15 months. After the men began drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily, it slowed to four-and-a-half years—and more than a third of the men in the study actually had a decrease in their PSA!

Researchers from UCLA also found that 47 percent of men who consumed 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily experienced improvements in erectile dysfunction (ED), as opposed to 32 percent who drank a placebo juice. Researchers surmise that the beneficial effects are likely a result of the powerful antioxidants in pomegranate juice, which scavenge free radicals and improve circulation throughout the entire body.

“Miracle fruit” may be stretching it, but why not give pomegranates a shot? Just shop carefully because some brands of juice have lots of added sugar. A good brand you’ll find in supermarkets and health food stores is POM Wonderful 100 percent pomegranate juice.

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