THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY

MONDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News)

Michael H. Davidson, M.D., of the University of Chicago, and colleagues randomly assigned 289 patients with more than one major coronary heart disease risk factor and a baseline posterior wall carotid intima-media thickness of 0.7 to 2.0 mm to receive either 240 ml of pomegranate juice per day or a control beverage for 18 months. Although they found no group differences in the overall carotid intima-media thickness progression rate, results suggested that pomegranate juice may slow progression in patients with increased oxidative stress and disturbances in the triglyceride-rich lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein axis.

"Consumption of pomegranate juice is very safe; thus, demonstration of a benefit on atherosclerotic disease progression, even in a subset of the population, would have important public health implications," Davidson and colleagues conclude.