Even if you have absolutely no interest in health and nutrition, I’m betting you’ve heard of acai berry, goji berry, and/or pomegranate juices. These “superfoods” have garnered attention from all the news outlets and plenty of late-night infomercial scammers are trying to cash in.
Fortunately for us, there are a number of reputable companies making products with these juices. The biggest name is POM Wonderful, who sell 100% pomegranate juice made from the Wonderful variety of pomegranates grown in California.
Here are my thoughts on pomegranates and this POM Wonderful pomegranate juice…
Table of Contents
POM Wonderful Health and Nutrition
First, let’s make sure we’re dealing with real pomegranate juice. POM Wonderful lists the ingredients as:
Pomegranate juice from concentrate and natural flavors.
And the basic nutrition facts for an 8oz serving:
150 calories
520mg potassium
40g carbs
32g sugar
Yep, a lot of sugar for 8oz, but that’s typical with any fruit juice. At least it’s natural sugar. Aside from that, everything looks good, especially the potassium. (Protein and fat content is 0g.)
As for the health benefits…
Pomegranates, like most fruits, are healthy. So it makes sense that pomegranate juice would share in the health benefits.
Basically, POM Wonderful grows high-quality pomegranates (on their own farms in California,) which are very high in potent antioxidants, which improve your health in a number of ways. Antioxidants are great for cleaning up free radicals in our bodies, which could play a role in the prevention of certain diseases, plus they help us recover from our workouts stronger and faster.
But POM Wonderful is also backed by $25 million in medical research, and some of their findings include:
- Improved blood flow to the heart.
- Decreased arterial plaque in patients with atherosclerosis.
- Pomegranate juice contains more, and better quality, polyphenol antioxidants than red wine.
Too see all the pomegranate research and health information (including the details of the studies I mentioned above,) check the POM Wonderful Health Benefits page.
I’m not saying pomegranate juice is some miracle anti-aging and weight loss secret, but there is no doubt that it provides health benefits.
POM Wonderful Taste Test
As much as I was impressed with the cute little bottles, I was even more impressed with the taste of this stuff. It actually tastes like you’re eating a real pomegranate, except that you don’t have to crunch the seeds.
It starts out kind of sweet, and then that real pomegranate taste hits. That is slightly tart, but it balances well with the sweetness.
I sipped it slowly, savoring that true pomegranate flavor, which made for a great experience. I got the full pomegranate taste without any of the tartness I’ve heard about. (I only noticed the tartness if I gulped it down real fast.)
It was especially nice after having some crap known as “Bellamessa 100% Pomegranate Juice.” I’m pretty sure that was cranberry juice and contained no pomegranate!
But even if you don’t like the pomegranate taste, there might be hope. The POM Wonderful website has a recipe section for pomegranate stuff. I tried a variation of the “POM Morning Shake” which is like a pomegranate banana smoothie.
It was pretty good, but what can I say? It tasted like a banana smoothie with a pomegranate kick. When it comes down to it, though, I prefer my pomegranate juice separately from my banana smoothies. (If you dislike pomegranate juice, you might prefer the smoothie option.)
Miscellaneous Thoughts
I must say, the POM Wonderful packaging is very well done – I’d go as far as to say it’s exquisite. Those little 8oz bottles are very neat and the looks almost justify the price.
Speaking of price, this juice isn’t cheap. I think I’ve seen the 16oz bottles go for about $4.50.
My final verdict is…
I enjoyed the flavor, but I probably wouldn’t want to drink 8oz of this every single day. The main reason to buy this is to get the health benefits of pomegranates, without the hassle of cutting open the real fruit (which is a lot more difficult than peeling an orange).
You still run into the same problems as other fruit juices, though. (Like lots of sugar and no fiber, unlike when you eat the real fruit.)
But pomegranate juice is much healthier than soda, and I really like the taste of POM Wonderful, so I recommend trying some.
Official website: www.POMWonderful.com
Buy online: www.Amazon.com
Company: POM Wonderful
Product: POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
Reviewed by: Coach Levi
My Rating: out of 5
Date last updated: 2009-01-14
Obtained Product: Free sample from company.
CoachLevi.com Advertiser: No.
Click here if you would like to get your product reviewed on CoachLevi.com.
Levi Bloom is an experienced endurance athlete who has been training and competing for over 17 years. A former Cat 1 road and mountain bike racer (professional class on the regional circuit), he is now a cycling coach (USA Cycling Level 3 Certified) and sports nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified).
I buy the POM Pomergante 48 Oz. bottle for 1
$13 abottle, can I get it cheaper any where else/on line.
Pomegranate is a valuable superfood – but NOT the ‘Wonderful’ variety which has been bred like most of our fruits (and vegetables), to be high in sucrose (13%), water and low in fiber. Rubbish nutrition.
Traditionally, pomegranates were found in eastern Persia (now Iran) and were far less juicy, certainly less sweet and definitely more nutritious as the phytonutrients they contained were more concentrated.
Unfortunately, as we are finding from research on Australian wild foods, as they are cultivated and pampered with irrigation, fertilizers and deep rich soils and select for their ability to be picked unripe, cold-stored for up to 6 months before gas-ripened and sent out to sit on supermarket shelves for a few more weeks, they are pumped up shadows of their former selves (nutritionally speaking).
Wild harvested, these ancient superfoods are record-holding in their levels of antioxidants such as anthocyanins and vitamin C – the Kakadu plum is the world’s highest fruit source of this compound as well as having folates, iron and ellagic and gallic acids). Pepperberry is loaded with polyphenolic antioxidants and contains the anti-inflammatory compound, polygodial. Illawarra plums have just been found to contain an as yet unknown principle (or principles) which not only stop fat cells from replicating but from growing larger as well. Is this the next big weight loss food fad?
In reality, there is a new product which marries 10 Australian wild foods with 14 conventional superfoods, including pomegranate (not the ‘wonderful’ variety). It is called Kakadu Juice and is set to become the recognized world-beating ultra-premium whole food nutrition solution to all the diseases of civilization to which we succumb; – low energy, depression, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, arthritis, chronic fatigue, high PSA levels, senile dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration – the list goes on and on.
I don’t have a clue what this “Kakadu” is, but I just drink juice to enjoy the taste. I’m not expecting miracles here. Pom wonderful is tart and tasty and I know where to find it, so I’m not complaining.
I am very confused, I bought one 8 oz bottle of Pom Wonderful, but it was disgusting at the first taste, I didn’t get a hint of any of this sweetness, it just rated like through up, and although I have tried to be optimistic and try it again, I got the same result, so perhaps this is not for everyone.
@K Coll.
It’s probably not for everyone. Do you enjoy eating pomegranates?
I enjoy pomegranate juice but I also enjoy eating pomegranates – even if they’re weird!
Heard you are big time animal abusers and we are telling everyone we know to stay away from your product
@Ed
Is there a breaking news story I haven’t seen?
The last I heard, POM Wonderful worked with PETA and put a permanent end to animal tests many years ago.