**2.2 Pomegranate fruit derived products**

334 Cancer Prevention – From Mechanisms to Translational Benefits

2000). The polyphenols in pomegranate flowers have strong antioxidant activity (Oswa et al., 1987); ellagic acid had a marked inhibitory effect on the occurrence and development of tumours in mice (Boukharta et al., 1992), triterpenes show antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic effects (Ovesná et al., 2004); and oleanolic acid significantly enhanced acute glucose-stimulated insulin secretion at basal and stimulatory glucose concentrations in pancreatic b-cell , and such effects may contribute to the antidiabetic properties (Teodoro et

Pomegranate fruit extracts/constituents possesses immense biological activities such as anticarcinogenic (Whitley et al., 2003; Afaq et al., 2005), antibacterial (Akiyama et al., 2001; Prashanth et al., 2001; Duman et al., 2009), antidiarrhoeal (Das et al., 1999), antifungal (Dutta et al., 1998), antiulcer (Gharzouli et al., 1999), antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging capability (Schubert et al., 1999; Aviram et al., 2000; Festa et al., 2001), strengthening of the immune system (Lee et al., 2008), prevention of heart disease (Johanningsmeier & Harris, 2011) and liver fibrosis (Thresiamma & Kuttan, 1996), and inhibition of lipid peroxidation even at lower concentrations than vitamin E (Rosenblat et al., 2003). All these therapeutical activities are related to the presence of diverse '*phenolic compounds'*, including gallic acid, protocatechinunic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, coumaric acid, and catechin and hydrolysable tannins (such as punicalin, pedunculagin, punicalagin, corilagin, casuarinin, punicacortein, granatin and ellagic acid), and anthocyanins (delphinidin, cyanidin and pelargonidin 3-glucosides and 3,5 diglucosides) (Amakura et al., 2000; Noda et al., 2002; Poyrazoglu et al., 2002; Kulkarni &

The bright colour of pomegranate flowers and arils is due to anthocyanins (Afaq et al., 2005); however, only one anthocyanin compound (i.e. pelargonidin-3,5-diglucoside) has yet been identified in pomegranate flowers using HPLC (Miguel et al., 2009), whereas in pomegranate juice, principally cyanidin-3-*O*-glucoside, cyanidin-3,5-di-*O*-glucoside, delphinidin-3-*O*-glucoside, delphinidin-3,5-di-*O*glucoside, pelargonidin-3-*O*-glucoside, and pelargonidin-3,5-di- *O*-glucoside, have been reported (Lansky & Newman 2007; Jaiswal et

Tannins, high-molecular-weight plant polyphenols, are divided into 3 chemically and biologically distinct groups: condensed tannins or proanthocyanidins, hydrolyzable tannins or elagitannins (ETs), and gallotannins (GTs) (Seeram et al., 2005). Pomegranate leaves contain unique tannins such as punicalin and punicafolin, and also have glycosides of apigenin, a avone with progestinic (Zand et al., 2000) and anxiolytic (Paladini et al., 1999) properties. Pomegranate peel are rich in hydrolyzable tannins, mainly punicalin, pedunculagin, and punicalagin (Seeram et al., 2006), which differ from proanthocyanidins in their chemical structures. In addition to ETs, pomegranate peel contains hydroxybenzoic acids such as gallagic, ergot alkaloid (EA), and EA glycosides (Amakura et al., 2000); anthocyanidins are principally cyanidin, pelargonidin, and delphinidin (Noda et al., 2002)

and flavonoids such as kaempferol, luteolin, and quercetin (Van Elswijk et al., 2004).

Al-Maiman & Ahmad (2002) showed the amounts of potassium, calcium and sodium were highest in both juice and seeds followed by magnesium, phosphorous, zinc, iron and copper. The authors stated that pomegranate can be a good source of nutrients and variation could originate from the pomegranate cultivar, and agro-climatic. Akpinar-Bayizit (2010) reported that although processing steps include clarification and filtration, the pomegranate

al., 2008).

al., 2010).

Aradya, 2005; Viuda-Martos et al., 2010).

Pomegranate can be consumed as fresh, fruit juice, fermented fruit juice, dried aril, frozen aril, minimally-processed aril, canned aril, jam, jelly, wine, vinegar, paste, fruit leather and in flavoring products.

Pomegranate arils can either be consumed fresh or procesed (dried, frozen, canned and minimally-processed). The conventional utilization of wild pomegranate fruit lies in the drying seeds along with pulp (arils), which constitute a traditional product called as '*Anardana*' (Pruthi & Saxena, 1984). The dehydrated arils are acidic (7.8–15.4%), help in improving mouth-feel and digestion, and are widely used as acidulent in culinary preparations. The dried anardana contains acid (5.8-15.4%), total sugars (9.3-17.5%) and crude fiber as compared to fresh fruit. To obtain frozen arils the arils are put into polyethylene bags either with syrup of 15° Brix or coated with solid sugar and frozen in a chest freezer. For canned arils, used generally as an appartiser, the arils were put into metal tins with syrup of 15° Brix and sterilised for 10 minutes. In the production of minimallyprocessed pomegranate aril pomegranates are chilled to 0°C, selected, washed and dried with a current of air at room temperature. They are conditioned in polyethylene bags that were heat-sealed and conserved in a chamber at 0°C for 10-15 days. These arils are used as a garnish for desserts and salad (Al-Maiman & Ahmad, 2002).

Pomegranate juice can be extracted by using a spiral-type screw press without crushing the seeds. The juice is clarified by heating in a flash pasteurizer at 79-82°C cooling, settled for 24 hours and filtered. The clear juice can be preserved by heat treatment or by using chemicals. The use of sulphur dioxide is banned for pomegranate due to loss of colour by bleaching action of SO2. Pomegranate juice represents one of the foods recently promoted for its health benets since a glass of pomegranate juice contains about 40% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of Vitamin C (Singh & Singh, 2004).

Pomegrenate syrup of 60° Brix with an added acidity of 1.5% as citric acid has a bright purplish-red colour and a delightful taste and flavour. It was preserved by pasteurization. Preparation of jelly on a small-scale from sweet-sour pomegranates is described by Adsule et al. (1992) and Singh & Singh (2004). When making the jellies, approximately 50% of the total anthocyanins present in the juice of are lost. During storage at 5°C, certain colour differences were observed, which indicates that the pH was not the only parameter responsible for this characteristic.

For preparation of wine, the whole furits are pressed without crushing or juice may be extracted from pomegranate grains, which gives a yield of 76 to 85% (Adsule & Patil, 1995). Sugar is added to the juice to obtain 22-23° Brix. The juice is fermented as in the same manner of red grape wine. The wine is flash pasteurized at 60°C and bottled hot (Singh & Singh, 2004).

Pomegranate seed is a residue obtained from pomegranate juice production, ranging between 40 and 100 g/kg of fruit weight (Fadavi et al., 2006; Lansky & Newman, 2007). The

The Therapeutic Potential of Pomegranate and Its Products for Prevention of Cancer 337

affected by individual variability, differential processing of pomegranate juice, and the analytical techniques used, which need to be sensitive enough to detect low postprandial concentrations of these metabolites (Basu & Penugonda, 2009). An *in vitro* study of pomegranate juice showed that phenolic compounds are available during the digestion in a quite high amount (29%), however, due to pH, anthocyanins are in large transformed into non-red forms and/or degraded and similar results are obtained for vitamin C (Pérez-

The recent interest in pomegranate products is due to the fruit's beneficial role in the prevention of prostate cancer, the prevention of the oxidation of both low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and cholesterol, reductions in blood pressure, arthritis, anemia, diarrhea, inflammation, gynecological diseases, atherosclerosis development, the stimulation of T-cell functions and production of cytokines, Alzheimer's disease, and improvoment of sperm quality (Figure 1). These beneficial effects were attributed to the wide range of phytochemicals found in pomegranate. These phytochemicals are predominantly phenolic compounds as well as to those of sugarcontaining polyphenolic tannins and anthocyanins, including primarily hydrolysable ellagitannins, anthocyanins and other polyphenols. Gil et al. (2000) have demonstrated that one of the ellagitannins, punicalagins, is responsible for over 50% of the antioxidant activity of the pomegranate juice. The same reserachers indicated that as being water-soluble, commercial pomegranate juice obtained by pressing the fruit contain signicant amounts of punicalagins, depending on the cultivar. Seeram et al. (2005) proposed punicalagin as a proper chemical marker for the authentication, quality control and standardization of

Vicente et al., 2002).

pomegranate products.

Fig. 1. Bioactive effects of pomegranate constituents.

**4. The health benefits of pomegranate derived products** 

In recent years, the focus is on understanding the mechanisms of nutraceutic and health promoting potentials of the foods nutrients. Cancer, in terms of morbidity and mortality, is a

seeds are rich source of lipids, and the fatty acid component of pomegranate seed oil comprises over 95% of the oil, of which 99% is triacylglycerols. Minor components of the oil include vitamin E, sterols, steroids, and a key component of mammalian myelin sheaths, cerebroside (Tsuyuki et al., 1981).

'*Pekmez*', a concentrated and shelf-life extended Turkish product, is generally produced from fruits containing high amounts of sugar such as grape, mulberry, carnob, apple, pomegranate, plum and apricot (Alparslan & Hayta, 2002; Demirozu et al., 2002). The rst steps in pomegranate pekmez production is washing, granulating and crushing of the pomegranates. The pomegranate juice, obtained by pressing the crushed pomegranates by a pneumatical or mechanical press, is boiled with a calcareous substance called '*pekmez earth*'*,* white soil containing 70.40% CaCO3 or technical CaCO3, for deacidification and neutralization. The juice is clarified and concentrated usually in open vessels, and rarely under vacuum at 565 mm Hg and 66°C, up to 65–68° Brix; this product is called '*liquid pekmez*'. The liquid pekmez can be consumed either as liquid or solidified at 6oC for 2-3 days via addition of hydrocolloids, to produce '*solid pekmez*'*,* which has a pasty form that is easily spread on a slice of bread.

The '*pomegranate leather (pestil)*' is another Turkish pomegranate derived product that can be stored for a long time without deterioration. Pomegranates are washed, granulated, crushed, pressed and ltered to separate the seeds and skin. Pekmez earth is added to neutralize and clarify the fresh pomegranate juice. Clarified juice is ltered and is mixed with the wheat starch. Nuts such as walnut or hazelnut can be added in small pieces if desired. The juice and starch mixture is concentrated upto 40° Brix by boiling and continuous stirring. The puree is spread on cloths of 0.5–2.00 mm thickness and sun-dried until a mild, tasty, light and chewable leathery product is obtained. The dried pestil is folded, cut and stored in dry conditions (Maskan et al., 2002).

The '*pomegranate molasses (sour pomegranate pekmez, nar eksisi, pomegranate sauce)*', a traditional seasoning commonly used in salads and many dishes to improve the taste and aroma characteristics in Turkey, is a concentrated product produced simply by boiling, without the addition of further sugar or other additives (Poyrazoglu et al., 2002; Incedayi et al., 2010). Pomegranate molasses is a highly nutritive product since it is more concentrate and the have a high mineral content. Traditional methods are still being used to produce pomegranate molasses, of which requires cleaning, crushing, extraction, filtration, and evaporation (upto 35-65° Brix) in an open vessel or under vacuum. Clarification is not recommended in pomegranate molasses since customers prefer bitterness and sourness that comes from phenolic substances and acidity (Vardin & Abbasoglu, 2004; Kaya & Sozer, 2005).
