Pomegranate juice to help diabetes

A study conducted in Israel has revealed that pomegranate juice could provide some health benefits for diabetics. The news may come as a surprise to some experts, because the juice is known to contain significant amounts of sugar.
The juice was trialed on a small human study group at the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, in conjunction with the Ramban Medical Centre in Haifa, Israel. The surprising revelation was made that the sugars found in pomegranate juice, although similar in property to other fruit juice sugars, did not negatively influence diabetes parameters. The juice was even found to lower the risk of atherosclerosis.
According to Professor Michael Aviram, the expert at the head of the study: “In most juices, sugars are present in free – and harmful – forms. In pomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to unique antioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective against atherosclerosis.”
Diabetes in the EU is an intensely serious problem, with an estimated 19 million people affected by the disease. The research is to be published in the August issue of the Journal Atherosclerosis.
The researchers concluded that: “pomegranate juice consumption by diabetic patients did not worsen the diabetic parameters, but rather resulted in anti-oxidative effects on serum and macrophages, which could contribute to attenuation of atherosclerosis development in these patients.”