A new study is saying fresh pomegranate juice has antimicrobial activity that might be attributed to high polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity.
The findings were published online May 20 in Food & Nutrition Research.
Scientists are saying that polyphenols are being studied because of their biological functions. Pomegranate, with its sweet-tart juice-filled seeds, is a polyphenol-rich fruit that is being studied. Over the last decade studies testing the antimicrobial activity of pomegranates almost exclusively used solvent extracts instead of fresh pomegranate juice.
For this study the juice was studied in its natural state to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of it on clinical isolates of 60 multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strains.
Scientists found that the juice has antimicrobial activity. The natural juice was also compared against commercial beverages containing pomegranate: Ocean Spray and Del Valle both had antimicrobial activity, but Jumex and Sonrisa did not have any antimicrobial activity.
Natural pomegranate juice had the highest polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4440876/